Topline
As former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York extends into its fourth week, jurors who are spending four days a week on the high-profile case are only guaranteed a meager state-required minimum of $40 per day, less than what most hourly workers make at a minimum-wage job.
Key Facts
Jurors serving in Trump’s hush money trial will make at least $40 each day they serve on the bench, according to New York state law, with their employer paying that fee in most scenarios for the first three days of the trial, while the state pays the minimum fee for additional days, as well as for employers with 10 or fewer staff members and for unemployed jurors.
Under state law, if the employee serving on the jury would have made more than $40 that day at their job, their employer must pay at least the $40 jury fee, and while employers are “encouraged” to pay for a full day’s wage, they are not “required” to do so under state law.
Laura Appleman, a law professor at Willamette University and former public defender, told Forbes most salaried workers are paid by their employers during that time, though she noted the low daily pay can be “extremely costly” for jurors who work hourly jobs and only receive the $40 daily fee, arguing that amount can create a “major financial crisis for people who are living on or near the poverty line.”
Should the trial take more than 30 days—as experts initially expected—jurors’ daily pay would bump up to $46, Appleman said, though even with the boost, hourly employees would still likely make less than they would at their jobs.
Minimum wage in New York City increased to $16 per hour at the start of the year, meaning the daily minimum juror pay is equivalent to less than three hours of work (if a juror at an hourly job makes less than that amount, then the state makes up the difference).
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Tangent
Jurors and alternates also face the possibility of a weeks-long sequestration, a move that New York Judge Juan Merchan could take under state law, though legal experts told Forbes sequestration is unlikely. Should the jury be sequestered, they would be forced to stay at a hotel with limited access to “other people, radio, television news and newspapers,” with their meals and lodging paid for by the county, according to New York’s juror handbook. If the jury is sequestered, it could come during deliberation, though even then it would be highly unlikely, according to Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now at Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner LLP. That’s because under the sequestration route, the jury would be deprived of liberty, Epner said, calling sequestration the “functional equivalent of putting the jury in jail.” In lieu of sequestration, jurors must pay for their own transit and meal expenses.
Key Background
The full jury—plus alternates—was empaneled after less than a week of selection on April 19, following a multi-step process of weeding out potential jurors who might present a bias in the trial. Jurors include a salesman originally from Ireland as the foreperson, as well as an investment banker, two attorneys, a security engineer, a retired wealth manager, an English teacher, a product development manager, a physical therapist and an employee at an eyewear company. Trump’s Manhattan criminal case is the first of four criminal trials the former president has faced in the 2024 campaign cycle. Trump was indicted in New York last March on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over a reimbursement to former fixer Michael Cohen for a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, to conceal her allegations of an affair. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and decried the case as a “witch hunt,” arguing without evidence that New York prosecutors are working with the Biden Administration to target Trump ahead of the November election.
News Peg
Daniels, the former adult film star at the center of the case, took the witness stand in the criminal trial on Tuesday, laying out in graphic detail the alleged affair she had with Trump in 2006. In her testimony, Daniels said she felt a “jump scare” when Trump initiated a sexual encounter, adding that while she did not feel “threatened,” there was an “imbalance of power.” Daniels testified she took a $130,000 hush money payment from Cohen out of “fear” that Trump would retaliate if the story was released, according to reporters in the courtroom. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.
Big Number
$10,000. That’s how much Trump has been fined for violating a gag order in the case, which prevents him from speaking publicly about members of the jury, potential witnesses, counsel, court staff and members of their family. Merchan initially fined him $9,000 last week, and while Merchan refused to sentence Trump to jail, he threatened jail time for future violations of the gag order. Trump was held in contempt of court for a 10th time on Monday after Merchan ruled he had violated the gag order once again, fining Trump another $1,000—the maximum fine under New York state law. If Merchan opts to sentence Trump for further violations, Trump could end up behind bars at Rikers Island jail, a possibility that New York Mayor Eric Adams said officials are “prepared” to take.
