(18 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING ++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 18 April 2024
1. Press surrounding Mark DeMuro, former potential juror
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark DeMuro, former potential juror:
"They asked if you could be impartial, if you couldn’t, if you had bias and felt you couldn’t be impartial to raise your hand and then state your jury number and leave. Sure enough. And I thought, you know, I’m not going to waste their time because if as they say, it would be dishonest of me. Do I think I could be impartial? Yes. Do I think there was a snowball’s chance in hell that the defense would allow me to be part of the jury, considering the artworks that I have made? No."
++BLACK FRAMES ++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark DeMuro, former potential juror:
"I did (raise my hand) because I thought, what am I going to do, come back in there and and watch, Blanche and company pull up the pictures that I’ve made and posts that I put on Instagram and Facebook about him? I mean, for what? So I would have the opportunity to laugh at him face to face or to poke fun at the defense. No. It wouldn’t have been appropriate, it wouldn’t have been fair."
++BLACK FRAMES ++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark DeMuro, former potential juror:
"I have the utmost respect for what Merchan is doing and how he’s conducting himself in this. It would have been irresponsible and unfair not to have just said, I’m not going to waste your time and come back here."
++BLACK FRAMES ++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark DeMuro, former potential juror:
"I think that when people participate in these things, they take it very seriously. I think, they will judge the evidence and, and look at it and weigh it and say, you know, this is your job. It’s like you’re not here to say, oh, I hate this guy, or, oh, I like this guy. Your job is to say, alright, I understand what the law is. This is the evidence of his behavior. Is he or is he not guilty of committing these acts?"
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
As two jurors in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial were dismissed Thursday, the number of jurors who have been seated for the first-ever criminal trial of a former president has been reduced to five.
Mark DeMuro, a 71-year-old artist who has satirized Donald Trump in the past was a potential juror. But when he raised his hand when asked if he was unable to be impartial he was quickly dismissed.
"I thought, you know, I’m not going to waste their time," DeMuro. "Do I think I could be impartial. Yes. Do I think there was a snowball’s chance in hell that the defense would allow me to be part of the jury, considering the artworks that I have made? No."
The seating of the full jury — whenever it happens — will be a seminal moment in the case, setting the stage for a trial that will place the former president’s legal jeopardy at the heart of the campaign against Democrat Joe Biden and for weeks of testimony about Trump’s private life before he became president.
The jury selection process picked up momentum Tuesday with the selection of seven jurors.
AP Video shot by Ted Shaffrey
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f8091128485f4640b4da69bfc93fc01b
