Trump trial: Judge rules juror's identities in Georgia election case must be protected

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - A Fulton County judge says the identities of the jurors in trials of former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants must be protected.

Monday night, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that the state should restrict any information that could identify a juror or prospective juror's identity during the trials over alleged interference in Georgia's 2020 presidential election.

In each trial, McAfee said the jurors should only be identified by a number in court filings and in open court - restricting details like names, addresses, telephone numbers, or employment information.

The ruling also restricts the use of photographs, recordings, or drawings without a judge's consent. The ruling makes an exception for the jury foreperson's eventual reading of the verdict or questions to the judge.

The ruling comes after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed a motion earlier this month, arguing that the grand jurors who returned the 41-count indictment against Trump and the other defendants were subjected to harassment when their information was posted online.

Willis wrote in the motion that the grand jurors’ information was posted "with the intent to harass and intimidate them." Additionally, the motion said, the personal information of Willis, a Black woman, and that of her family and staff have been posted online "intertwined with derogatory and racist remarks."

News cameras are frequently allowed in the courtroom for trial proceedings in Georgia, but video and still photographers are regularly instructed not to show images of the jury. During the jury selection process, the prospective jurors are typically referred to by number rather than by name.

Legal experts have said it’s standard for indictments in Georgia to include the names of the grand jurors, in part because it provides defendants the opportunity to challenge the composition of the grand jury. So the names of the 23 grand jurors who heard the district attorney’s evidence and voted to approve charges were included in the indictment. They immediately became the victims of "doxxing," which is short for "dropping dox" or documents and refers to the online posting of information about someone, generally in an attempt to harass, threaten, shame or exact revenge.

It is "clearly foreseeable" that that would happen to trial jurors if their names were made public, and that could jeopardize their "ability to decide the issues before them impartially and without outside influence," affecting the defendants’ right to a fair and impartial jury, Willis argued.

Information about Willis and the grand jurors was posted on the dark web, a part of the internet hosted within an encrypted network and accessible only through specialized tools that provide anonymity, district attorney’s investigator Gerald Walsh wrote.

Several media groups petitioned the judge to be able to report the demographics of the jurors.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.