Former President Donald Trump has been found liable of battery and defamation, after a civil trial jury found he sexually abused writer E Jean Carroll.
The jury rejected the rape claim but awarded her $5 million in damages.
The nine-person panel, comprised of three women and six men, reached the decision Tuesday after three hours of deliberations.
Jurors were tasked with deciding whether Trump raped, sexually abused or forcibly touched Carroll, any one of which would satisfy her claim of battery. They were separately asked if Trump defamed Carroll.
Because this is a civil case, the former president will not face criminal consequences.
Carroll faced questions from Trump’s legal team pointing to the plausibility of her account including why she had never reported the matter to police or screamed during the alleged incident. Carroll told jurors she decided to break her silence in 2017 after rape allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein prompted scores of women to come forward with accounts of sexual violence by powerful men.
She went public with her account while Trump was still president.
