Judge sends jury home for the day after second note, but it’s very much looking like a Trump conviction tomorrow
An hour after the jury sent a note requesting a read back of testimony from Pecker and Cohen, the jury has sent another note asking that the jury instructions be read again. Their first note suggested that they were looking to convict Donald Trump, given the nature of the specific testimony they requested. The second note suggested (to me at least) that they are ready to go ahead and convict him once they confirm that Pecker’s testimony says what it says, and that they just want to review the jury instructions first.
But because the testimony they requested hasn’t yet been located, and it’s almost wrap up time for the day, Judge Merchan decided to send the jury home for the day. This means they’ll be back at it starting at 9:30am eastern time tomorrow. So now what?
It’ll take some time tomorrow morning for the requested testimony to be read back to the jury, and it’ll take some time for the instructions to be read back as well. But the jury should be back in its deliberation room by late morning. And frankly, given the two notes they’ve sent, it won’t be shocking if a conviction follows soon thereafter. As always, stay tuned.
