Trump's lawyer says E. Jean Carroll verdict tainted by other women's testimony
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Ms E. Jean Carroll (centre) leaving the New York City courthouse on Sept 6.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK - A lawyer for Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court on Sept 6 to overturn a US$5 million (S$6.5 million) jury verdict finding Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her nearly three decades ago.
Much of the oral arguments before the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan turned on a claim by Trump’s lawyer that the trial judge should not have let other women testify that the Republican presidential nominee sexually mistreated them decades earlier.
Wearing a blue suit and red tie, Trump showed little emotion during the arguments, but shook his head when Ms Carroll’s lawyer, Ms Roberta Kaplan, accused him of a pattern of “chatting up” women before he “pounced” on them.
The panel of three judges, all appointed to the bench by Democratic presidents, did not say when it would rule.
Trump is appealing a May 2023 civil verdict
Jurors awarded the former Elle magazine advice columnist a respective US$2.02 million and US$2.98 million for her sexual assault and defamation claims.
A different jury ordered Trump in January to pay Ms Carroll US$83.3 million
In both denials, Trump said he didn’t know Ms Carroll, that she was “not my type,” and that she made up her story to promote her memoir.
Both trials were overseen by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Ms Roberta Kaplan. Trump is separately appealing the US$83.3 million verdict.
Ms Carroll also attended the Sept 6 arguments, wearing a dark blazer and suit with a navy blue hair ribbon. She and her lawyers did not talk with reporters after arguments ended.
‘He said, she said’
Trump criticised Judge’s Kaplan’s admission of testimony from two accusers, MsJessica Leeds and Ms Natasha Stoynoff.
Ms Leeds said Trump groped her on a plane in the late 1970s, while Ms Stoynoff said he forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005.
Mr John Sauer, a lawyer for Trump, called the case “a textbook example of implausible allegations being propped up by highly inflammatory, inadmissible propensity evidence.”
He also called the case “a quintessential he said, she said case” brought by a woman with a political motive to hurt Trump - Ms Carroll is a Democrat - and funded by Trump’s enemies.
Attorney Will Scharf speaks as former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (centre) looks on, during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City, on Sept 6.
PHOTO: AFP
Circuit Judge Denny Chin cautioned, however, that “it’s very hard to overturn a jury verdict based on evidentiary rulings.”
Mr Sauer also objected to Judge Kaplan’s letting jurors see a 2005 Access Hollywood video where Trump graphically described how famous people like himself could have sexual relations with beautiful women.
Ms Carroll’s lawyer, Ms Kaplan, said Trump had a habit of allowing “pleasant chatting” with women to spiral out of control, and then strongly denying their accusations he did anything wrong.
Circuit Judge Susan Carney asked her for assurance that the jury wasn’t unduly affected by Ms Leeds’ testimony, if her accusations proved “too remote (and) too unlike the circumstances that your client alleged.”
Ms Kaplan said she could. “I was going through the evidence at trial,” she said. “It was incredibly powerful.”
Though the first jury stopped short of finding that Trump raped Ms Carroll, Judge Kaplan said its verdict made Trump’s June 2019 denial defamatory, leading to the US$83.3 million verdict.
Ms Carroll’s cases are separate from multiple criminal cases against the former US president.
Trump has yet to be sentenced in Manhattan state court in a hush money case, after being convicted in May of falsifying business records
