Former President Donald Trump has been found liable for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll but not for rape in a civil battery and defamation case. He was also ordered to pay $5 million. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous story follows below.

A jury in New York City began deliberating Tuesday in the lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll alleging that Donald Trump raped her in 1996 in a Manhattan luxury department store.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan read instructions about the law to the nine-member jury for about an hour before the panel began hearing Carroll’s charges of battery and libel.

If they believe Carroll, jurors can award compensatory and punitive damages. Trump, who did not attend the trial, insisted he never sexually assaulted Carroll or even knew her.

Kaplan told jurors that the first question on the verdict will be to decide if they believe there is more than a 50% chance that Trump raped Carroll in a store locker room. If they answer yes, they will decide whether to award compensatory and punitive damages.

Otherwise, the judge instructed, they will decide whether Carroll had proven there was a greater than 50% chance that Trump subjected her to sexual contact without her consent or that he violently touched her to humiliate her or to increase his sexual desire. to satisfy. If they answer yes, they will consider whether damages are appropriate.

On defamation allegations stemming from a statement Trump made on social media last October, Kaplan said jurors will have to reach a conclusion based on a higher standard of legal, clear and compelling evidence. He said that means they must agree that it was highly likely that Trump’s statement was false and made maliciously with intent to injure or out of hatred or ill will with reckless disregard for Carroll’s rights.

Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina said in closing arguments to the jury Monday that Carroll’s story is too far-fetched to believe. He said she made amends to boost sales of a 2019 memoir where she first publicly revealed her

claims allegations

and to discredit Trump for political reasons.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, cited excerpts from Trump’s October statement and his infamous comments on a 2005 Access Hollywood video in which he said celebrities can grab women’s genitals without asking.

She urged the jurors to believe her client.

He didn’t even bother to appear here in person, Kaplan said, referring to Trump’s absence from court during the two weeks of the trial. She said much of what he said in his statement and in public statements, and actually supports our side of the matter.

In a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself, she said. He knows what he did. He knows he sexually assaulted E Jean Carroll.

Carroll, 79, testified that she had a chance meeting with Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower. She said it was a light-hearted interaction in which they teased each other trying on a piece of lingerie before Trump got violent in a locker room.

Tacopina told jurors there was no reason to call Trump as a witness, while Carroll can’t even remember when the alleged meeting with Trump took place.

He told the jury that Carroll made her up

claims allegations

after hearing a 2012 law

And &

order

: SVU

episode in which a woman is raped in the dressing room of the lingerie section of a Bergdorf Goodman store.

They modeled their secret plan on an episode of one of television’s most popular shows, he said of Carroll.

Two of Carroll’s friends testified that she told them about meeting Trump shortly after it happened, many years before the law went into effect.

And &

Order episode broadcast.