Final alternate jurors chosen in Trump trial as opening statements near
The final five alternate jurors in former President Donald Trump's New York criminal trial were selected on Friday, teeing up opening statements in the trial to begin on Monday.
But the end of jury selection was quickly overshadowed by a shocking turn of events at a park across the street from the courthouse, where a man lit himself on fire. One person told CBS News the man appeared to toss fliers into the air before dousing himself with a liquid and igniting. Footage from the scene showed flames shooting high in the air before emergency personnel extinguished the blaze. The person was rushed away on a stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital.
Whether the incident was connected to the Trump proceedings was not immediately clear. Police were said to be investigating whether the person was a protester, emotionally disturbed or both.
The jury in the Trump trial
Back inside the courtroom, the five new members chosen Friday joined the 12 jurors and one alternate who were seated over the first three days of the trial. The 12 jurors include seven men and five women, all of whom vowed to judge the case fairly and impartially.
The process saw dozens of people immediately excused from consideration for saying they couldn't be impartial. Two seated jurors were excused after being sworn in. One said she became concerned about her ability to be impartial after people in her life figured out she was a juror based on details reported about her in the press. Prosecutors flagged another after discovering a possible decades-old arrest that hadn't been disclosed during jury selection.
More were dismissed when proceedings got underway Friday, including several who said they had concluded they couldn't put aside their biases or opinions of Trump. Questioning of the remaining potential alternates continued into the afternoon until all five seats were filled.
Merchan said the court would proceed to a pretrial hearing to discuss the topics prosecutors would be allowed to broach if Trump decides to take the stand in his own defense.
Prosecutors indicated in a filing made public Wednesday that they want to question Trump about a host of high-profile legal defeats to attack his credibility. The list includes an almost half-billion-dollar civil fraud judgment recently handed down in another New York court, a pair of unanimous civil federal jury verdicts finding him liable for defamation and sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll, gag order violations, and sanctions for what a judge concluded was a "frivolous, bad faith lawsuit" against Hillary Clinton.
Trump's attorneys have indicated they believe all those topics should be out of bounds in this case, which revolves around reimbursements to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen for a "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say Trump covered up the reimbursements in order to distance himself from the payment, days before the 2016 presidential election, which temporarily bought Daniels' silence about an alleged affair. He has also denied having the affair.
Trump has entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony counts of falsification of business records. He has denied all allegations in the case.
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Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or [email protected]