U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta denied Peter Navarro’s request for a new trial on contempt of Congress charges, stating that he failed to prove that the jury in his trial was prejudiced by seeing Jan. 6-related protesters outside the courthouse.
Navarro’s lawyers were aware of the potential exposure but remained silent until the verdict.
The judge emphasized that the jurors’ interaction with the protesters was minimal, and the scene was relatively calm.
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The DOJ is seeking six months in prison for top Trump aide Peter Navarro for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee, Politico reports.
Lock him up! pic.twitter.com/eJh2r25PtB
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 19, 2024
“A defendant cannot learn of alleged improper external influence on the jury, remain silent and gamble on a favorable verdict, only to complain afterwards that a new trial is warranted because the jury was unduly prejudiced by that outside influence,” Mehta said. “That is precisely what occurred here.”
“No one approached them,” he said. “Moreover, the scene itself was relatively placid. There was no indiscriminate yelling or chanting. No one held a sign above their head. There were no activities resembling a ‘protest.'”
Navarro was convicted for failing to obey a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 events and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
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