NEW YORK (AP) — An lawyer for Donald Trump is searching for a one-month delay within the trial concerning a columnist’s claims that Trump raped her in a division retailer dressing room within the Nineteen Nineties, contending that his shopper’s proper to a good trial is dependent upon a “cooling off” interval following the previous president’s indictment and arraignment.
The trial was set for April 25. In a letter Tuesday to Choose Lewis A. Kaplan, lawyer Joseph Tacopina cited “the current deluge of prejudicial media protection” surrounding Trump’s arrest and court docket look in arguing for a delay. The previous president was charged March 30 with 34 felony counts associated to allegations that he paid hush cash to an grownup movie star, Stormy Daniels.
The civil case earlier than Kaplan was introduced towards Trump in November by E. Jean Carroll, a columnist who says the rich actual property developer raped her in early 1996 after an opportunity assembly on the Bergdorf Goodman division retailer.
Trump has repeatedly and emphatically denied the allegation. A jury might be requested to determine whether or not the rape occurred and if Trump defamed Carroll together with his feedback.
A brief state legislation that took impact final yr permits grownup rape victims to sue their abusers, even when assaults occurred many years in the past.
Tacopina’s letter searching for a delay within the trial for Carroll’s civil go well with adopted Kaplan’s order on Monday directing events within the case to inform him by April 20 whether or not they are going to be current all through the trial in Manhattan federal court docket. Carroll’s lawyer has stated she is going to attend; Trump’s lawyer has not responded to requests for touch upon Kaplan’s order.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, stated a response to the request for a delay might be filed in a letter to the decide. The lawyer and the decide should not associated.