Jury selection proceeds for Avenatti-Stormy Daniels trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Avenatti, the once high-profile California attorney who regularly taunted then-President Donald Trump during frequent television appearances, was introduced Thursday to prospective jurors who will decide whether he cheated porn star Stormy Daniels out of book-deal proceeds.

Jury selection hit full stride a week after written questionnaires were filled out as U. S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman introduced over 60 prospective jurors to Avenatti and the lawyers on both sides who will present evidence during a trial projected to last up to a month.

He asked Avenatti and the lawyers to briefly take off their COVID-19 masks so prospective jurors could see their faces and make sure they don’t know them from their private lives.

Some jurors were in a courthouse assembly room while others watched the judge by video in a ceremonial courtroom. Everyone was spaced apart to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Among 49 questions presented to possible jurors was one in which they were asked if they could be fair even after hearing evidence that Daniels once worked in the “pornography profession.”

The prospective jurors made it to the Manhattan courthouse despite a morning storm. Late in the day, the judge instructed about 40 of them t... (Read more)

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