The potential jury blunder in Trump's Manhattan fraud trial

The first case that will be heard among the five that Donald Trump faces will be on Oct. 2, 2023, in Manhattan. But it won't be before a jury.

NBC News reported this weekend about the length of the upcoming Trump trials. But buried in the report was the revelation that Trump's lawyers checked the box on the forms to elect for a "bench trial" when it comes to Attorney General Letitia James' case against the Trump Organization, the ex-president and his heirs, who serve as vice presidents.

"The trial is scheduled to begin on October 2, 2023, and to end by December 22, 2023," Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in the scheduling order.

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"Donald Trump's lawyers screwed up again," trial lawyer Michael Popok said when talking about the development. "His then-lawyer Alina Habba screwed up the procedures in New York, didn't file the appropriate paper on time, and therefore, Donald Trump was properly denied a jury trial."

In all of Trump's cases, he has elected to have a jury. Legal analysts have observed that in the transcripts released from the special purpose grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, there was almost always one person who voted against the indictment while the rest of the panel did.

"With respect to Trump, an overwhelming majority of the grand jurors recommended that the district attorney seek indictments against him for a litany of offenses related to the call," wrote Lawfare's Anna Bower. "Elsewhere in the report, the jurors also recommend charges against Trump in connection to separate communications with Georgia officials and other efforts to overturn the 2020 election. For each of the charges recommended for Trump, one juror—though perhaps not the same juror—voted against the charges."

In all of Trump's trials with a jury, a single hold-out could stop the former president from being ruled guilty and facing a sentence.

In Manhattan, Arthur F. Engoron will decide the future of the Trump Organization, including whether it will be fined and if it can continue to operate in New York, where Trump's father built their family's empire. Engoron was elected unopposed in 2015 and his term isn't up until 2029.

Popok explained Trump wants a jury because everything that Judge Engoron has done over the last few years "indicates that he is not going to rule likely in Donald Trump's favor on the big case."

Duncan Levin, the lawyer for "Soho Grifter" Anna Sorkin, who also had a case before Engoron told the conservative New York Post: "They have clearly run out of time and have tested the court's patience."

Engoron, he continued, “is a no-nonsense” but “fair” judge and he “does not tolerate needless and unwarranted delays.”

Popok described Engoron as "the Superman to Donald Trump's Lex Luther."

It's unclear if the bench trial option was a mistake or intentional because Trump also faced off against a Manhattan jury in the E. Jean Carroll case and lost. He was found liable and the jury ruled that he "sexually abused" her.

As it stands now, one person will decide the fate of the 50-year company and whether the fines will be so high that it will bankrupt the company. If that happens a number of dominoes could begin to fall.

"Merely being indicted is not going to change that much, but if they plead guilty to any of these crimes, there are a number of implications," said investigative reporter David Fahrenthold in 2021. The banks could call in the loans and the liquor licenses at the golf clubs and hotels. They could call in the liquor licenses, because companies with felony charges cannot own a liquor license. So it could have implications for companies that are nowhere near New York."