Dershowitz Suggests Judge Merchan Has A Dirty Trick Up His Sleeve: ‘I’ve Seen It Done’

Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz suggested on Thursday that the judge in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial may be holding a final play to disrupt the jury before a verdict can be reached.

Speaking on his own online program, the Harvard Law School professor said instructions by Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan for alternate jurors to remain available speaks to a possible swap at the last minute. For example, if a single juror refuses to find the former president guilty, Dershwitz suggested Merchan may step in and replace that individual with an alternate.

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“I admit this is highly, highly speculative, but there… I know a case on this, so that I’m not making it up: The judge said he’s not going to dismiss the alternate jurors until there’s an absolute verdict,” Dershowitz said, according to the Daily Caller. “One possible reason for that, again, I want to emphasize that I’m speculating, one possible reason for this might be following, it is quite cynical: Let’s assume that the jurors come back and say, ‘Sorry we’re, uh, we’re deadlocked. We have one juror who just won’t give in. Well, there are eleven of us who think he’s guilty.’ By the way, the jurors don’t say what they think, they just say there’s a deadlock, but if they come back that way, the inference will be that the jury is, that is, is locked eleven to one in favor of conviction.’”

Dershowitz added that if a juror was keeping the 12-member panel from reaching a verdict and refused to budge, a determined judge may seek to have that person removed.

“So the judge hears from the jurors and the judge hears that they’re eleven to one and then the judge says, ‘Well is that other juror, the twelfth juror, is he negotiating? Is he involved in the conversations?’ And the foreman to the jury says ‘No, he’s refusing, he’s sitting there with his arms folded, saying, ‘Guy’s innocent, sorry, guy’s innocent, I’m not going to listen to you. The guy’s innocent, there’s no case here, the guy’s innocent,’” Dershowitz continued. “If I were on the jury, that’s what I’d be doing, and then the judge has the power, rarely, rarely, exercised, but he has the power, I’ve seen it done, to say ‘Well, if this juror won’t deliberate, then he’s violating his oath, and I’m going to substitute one of the alternate jurors for that juror,’ and then immediately, they come back with a twelve to nothing verdict of conviction.”

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Jurors are already reeling from a lack of written instructions which were refused after Merchan and attorneys failed to reach an agreement about providing them with the 53-page document. Instead, over two days Merchan has read all or part of the instructions back to the jury as well as transcripts from witness testimony which are also being withheld.

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