Donald Trump complained Wednesday that his lawyers were not given “unlimited” chances to reject prospective jurors at his New York criminal hush money trial.
But state law caps the number of would-be jurors his lawyers can strike without cause.
Trump has received the correct number of strikes given the type of criminal charges he faces: 10 peremptory strikes for jurors, plus another two for every alternate juror.
“I thought STRIKES were supposed to be ‘unlimited’ when we were picking our jury?” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country.”
His complaints came a day after the first seven jurors were picked for the trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Five more jurors and six alternates remain to be seated when the selection process resumes Thursday with a new group of 96 potential jurors, following a break Wednesday.
In criminal trials in New York, both the prosecutors and the defense are allowed a certain number of peremptory strikes, which can be used to dismiss prospective jurors without any reason.
The number of allotted strikes depends on the level of the highest crime charged.
Trials for Class E felonies, which include the charges of falsifying business records that Trump faces, get the fewest number of challenges.
Samantha Chorny, a criminal defense lawyer in New York City, told CNBC that if there were unlimited peremptory strikes, as Trump wants, “I mean, no one would ever pick a jury.”
Trump’s complaint on Truth Social demonstrates “his willful ignorance of the law,” said Jeremy Saland, another New York criminal defense attorney.
Saland said it is difficult to imagine that Trump “doesn’t know that simple fact” about jury selection strike rules, particularly since he faces four pending criminal cases.
“It tells me he doesn’t really believe” what he is saying and that Trump is trying to “appear as a victim,” Saland said.
Although Trump is considered innocent until proven guilty, “this kind of nonsense, it’s really hurtful to law and order,” Saland said.
Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors can make an unlimited number of requests to Judge Juan Merchan to strike a potential juror for cause.
The cause can include a person’s inability to be fair and impartial to either side in a trial.
Merchan on Tuesday rejected at least one request by Trump’s attorneys to strike a prospective juror for cause.
