Trump Denied Second NYC Trial In E. Jean Carroll Sexual Abuse Case

NEW YORK CITY — A federal judge roundly rejected former President Donald Trump's bid for a second New York City trial in the E. Jean Carroll that left him on the hook for $5 million.

The jury did not reach a "seriously erroneous result" when they found Trump sexually abused Carroll in a Manhattan department store during the mid-1990s and awarded her damages in May, wrote Judge Lewis Kaplan in a 59-page opinion.

"Its verdict is not 'a miscarriage of justice,'" Kaplan wrote.

Trump, who has denied Carroll's accusations, filed an appeal shortly after the judge's opinion.

The former president's bid for a new trial in large part hinged on an argument that jurors' award of $2 million in damages for sexual assault was excessive.

Jurors had concluded that Trump had not "raped" Carroll as she contended, his lawyers argued. Instead, they contended the verdict could have been based on Trump groping Carroll's breast through her clothing, "which is a far cry from rape."

Kaplan found that argument "entirely persuasive." He noted the only part of the jury's unanimous verdict in which Carroll didn't win was whether Trump "raped" her within the very narrow, technical definition of rape within New York law.

"This jury did not award Ms. Carroll more than $2 million for groping her breasts through her clothing, wrongful as that might have been," Kaplan wrote. "There was no evidence at all of such behavior. 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."

Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan, who isn't related to the judge, said her client looks forward to receiving the $5 million in damages.

Another trial is scheduled for 2024, this time for a defamation suit Carroll brought against Trump after he denied her accusations by saying she was "not my type."

gov.uscourts.nysd.590045.212.0_1 by Matt Troutman on Scribd