When Trump's civil fraud trial in New York started, many wondered why he would let a judge decide on the legal merits of his case instead of taking his chances with a jury of his peers where the odds of acquittal would seem much higher. Well, a simple explanation as mentioned by Justice Engoron in his opening remarks: Nobody asked for one.
Oopsy.
Source: MeidasTouch
As the parties settled into the courtroom for the first full day of the trial, Justice Engoron, the judge Trump has significantly attacked during the past several weeks, asserted that "nobody asked for" a jury trial, which meant that Justice Engoron will preside over the trial.
According to reports, this was a mere oversight by Trump's attorneys who failed to submit the routine demand for jury trial and did not check the requisite boxes on the form.
In New York, a party seeking to have a jury trial may file a jury trial demand either at the time of serving their note of issue or within 15 days of receiving such a note. A note of issue is a document that signifies to the opposing side that discovery in a case is complete.
This deadline passed a while ago in the Trump case and is one that Trump's attorneys failed to acknowledge. As a result, the Judge Trump dislikes will be the one deciding liability as to any remaining claims, and of course, whether damages are appropriate.
More details here on just how bad a screwup this is for Trump.
