Donald Trump’s open harassment of and undisguised contempt for judges, the rule of law, and the press has resulted, unsurprisingly, in threats to both the jurors in the Paul Manafort trial and the Judge, due to the fact that he portrays Manafort as a victim of “them.” In order to preserve the physical safety of jurors, Judge T.S. Ellis has made the decision to keep their identities secret, and he himself is traveling with a U.S. Marshall for protection. Talking Points Memo:
Ellis was responding to a lawyer representing several media organizations that are seeking to unseal records in the case — including the identities of the jurors, transcripts of bench conferences between lawyers and the judge and a third category that is under seal because it relates to an ongoing investigation. Ellis did not specify the nature of the investigation.
Matthew Kelley, the lawyer representing the news organizations, argued in a hearing on the sealed records that there should be a presumption of openness when it comes to the names of the jurors. Kelley said there had not been any specific threats against the jurors, to which Ellis shot back, “I can tell you there have.”
Ellis added that he has also received threats, and is traveling with a U.S. marshall out of fear for his personal safety.
While the judge expressed sympathy with the media organizations’ desire for records to be available to the public, Ellis said if the court releases the names of the jurors, it could preclude people from participating in future “cases with notoriety.”
We live in a very different age from when a change in venue could almost surely guarantee an impartial decision by jurors unfamiliar with any given case, who would decide its merits on facts and evidence alone. In a media saturated world, where information can travel around the globe at the speed of light, it’s difficult for anybody to remain impartial with respect to notorious cases.
Additionally, Donald Trump’s claims of “witch hunt” and expressions of “it’s very sad what they’ve done to Paul Manafort” only rile up the deranged — which is apparently the intention.
