A federal judge on Wednesday said that a jury had found Donald Trump guilty of raping writer E. Jean Carroll in the normal sense of the word, rejecting his claim that a jury had vindicated him and throwing out his request for a new trial.
It comes after a New York Jury in May found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer and awarded her $5m in damages.
Carroll, 79, accused Trump, 77, of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. He dismissed the accusation as a hoax.
His lawyers tried to argue that the damages award was ‘excessive’ because the jury found he had not raped her.
But U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan dismissed the argument, saying the jury was acting on a very narrow, legalistic definition of the term ‘rape.’
A federal judge on Wednesday said that a jury had found Donald Trump guilty of raping writer E. Jean Carroll in the normal sense of the word, rejecting his claim that a jury had vindicated him and throwing out his request for a new trial
E. Jean Carroll (C) is seen here leaving a Manhattan’s federal court house in May after the jury found that former president Donald J. Trump was liable for sexually abusing her
‘The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was “raped” within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump “raped” her as many people commonly understand the word “rape,”‘ he wrote in a 59-page decision.
‘Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.’
His finding is the latest legal blow to Trump. He has been charged in two criminal cases since leaving office — involving a hush money payment to a porn star, and his handling of classified documents — and on Tuesday revealed that he may soon face charges in a federal probe into the 2020 election.
He has denied wrongdoing in all three, and claims to be the victim of a political witch hunt.
Wednesday’s ruling leaves May’s verdicts and damages award in place.
‘The jury’s unanimous verdict in Carroll II was almost entirely in favor of Ms. Carroll,’ wrote Kaplan.
‘The only point on which Ms. Carroll did not prevail was whether she had proved that Mr. Trump had “raped” her within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law – a section that provides that the label “rape” as used in criminal prosecutions in New York applies only to vaginal penetration by a penis,’ said Kaplan.
‘Forcible, unconsented-to penetration of the vagina or of other bodily orifices by fingers, other body parts, or other articles or materials is not called “rape” under the New York Penal Law. It instead is labeled “sexual abuse.”‘
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan dismissed the argument put forward by Trump’s lawyers, saying the jury was acting on a very narrow, legalistic definition of the term ‘rape’
He dismissed the Trump team’s argument that he had groped ‘her breasts through her clothing.’
‘Instead, the proof convincingly established, and the jury implicitly found, that Mr. Trump deliberately and forcibly penetrated Ms. Carroll’s vagina with his fingers, causing immediate pain and long lasting emotional and psychological harm
In a footnote, he added that the U.S. Attorney General introduced a broader definition of rape in 2012: ‘Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.’
Lawyers for Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, did not immediately comment after the judge’s ruling.
Carroll’s attorney welcomed the outcome.
‘Now that the court has denied Trump’s motion for a new trial or to decrease the amount of the verdict, E Jean Carroll looks forward to receiving the $5 million in damages that the jury awarded her,’ said Robbie Kaplan, who is not related to the judge.
DailyMail
