The Daily Fuckup

On May 29, 2024, the trial moved out of argument and into the law. After summations, Judge Juan Merchan gave the jury post-summation instructions in People v. Trump, laying out the crimes charged, the elements jurors had to find, and the process for deliberations. The court’s case page lists the jury-instructions filing for May 29, and the written verdict sheet was filed the next day. ([ww2.nycourts.gov](https://ww2.nycourts.gov/people-v-donald-j-trump-criminal-37026))

The charge was built to do one thing: give jurors the legal frame they were supposed to use when they weighed the evidence already in the record. Merchan told them he would not summarize the evidence and that nothing he said should be read as a view on guilt, innocence, or the importance of any piece of testimony. He also reminded them that they, not the court, were the fact finders. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/People%20v.%20DJT%20Jury%20Instructions%20and%20Charges%20FINAL%205-23-24.pdf))

That kind of instruction matters because it narrows the case to the questions the law actually asks. The jurors were not there to decide whether Trump was politically targeted, unfairly treated, or popular with the public. They were there to apply the court’s instructions to the charges before them and decide whether the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. That is analysis, not a finding the judge made for them. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/People%20v.%20DJT%20Jury%20Instructions%20and%20Charges%20FINAL%205-23-24.pdf))

The practical point is simpler than the spectacle around it: once the charge ended, the jury was sent to deliberate under a written legal roadmap. By then, the case had become a matter of elements, burdens, and verdict forms rather than speeches from counsel. The next step belonged entirely to the jurors. ([ww2.nycourts.gov](https://ww2.nycourts.gov/people-v-donald-j-trump-criminal-37026))