当地时间5月9日，美国纽约联邦法庭的陪审团（jury）裁定，美国前总统特朗普在一起民事案件中被判有罪，需向原告、知名时尚杂志《ELLE》前专栏作家卡罗尔（E. Jean Carroll）赔偿500万美元。

Supporters of E. Jean Carroll （图片来源于网络）

卡罗尔指控特朗普曾于二十多年前“强奸”自己，并在她揭发真相后诽谤她为骗子。

不过，陪审团没有认定特朗普犯有强奸罪，而是认定他犯有性侵（sexual abuse）和诽谤罪（defamation）。对此，特朗普在自创社交平台发文否认，并称这一裁决为“耻辱”和“政治迫害”。特朗普的律师表示将会上诉。

A Manhattan jury on Tuesday found former President Donald J. Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages. More than a dozen women have accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct over the years, but this is the only allegation to be affirmed by a jury.

In the civil case, the federal jury of six men and three women found that Ms. Carroll, 79, a former magazine writer, had sufficiently proved that Mr. Trump sexually abused her nearly 30 years ago in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. The jury did not, however, find he had raped her, as she had long claimed.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Monday morning walked jurors through a verdict form, explaining what battery meant in the context of a civil lawsuit and that there were gradations of that wrongful act.

He offered three types of battery for which Mr. Trump might be liable under New York law: rape, sexual abuse and forcible touching.

To find that Mr. Trump raped Ms. Carroll, the jurors needed to believe that it was more likely than not that Mr. Trump engaged in sexual intercourse by physical force. The judge explained that “any penetration of the penis into the vaginal opening” constituted intercourse.

To find that Mr. Trump sexually abused Ms. Carroll, the jurors needed to believe that Mr. Trump subjected Ms. Carroll to sexual contact by physical force. Sexual contact is defined as touching the sexual or other intimate parts of another person, Judge Kaplan said.

Forcible touching, the judge said, “includes squeezing, grabbing, pinching, rubbing or other bodily contact that involves the application of some level of pressure to the victim’s sexual or intimate parts.”

The jury ultimately determined that Ms. Carroll had proved that Mr. Trump sexually abused her and that $2 million would “fairly and adequately compensate her.”

Jurors found that Mr. Trump should pay Ms. Carroll $20,000 in punitive damages because his conduct was, as stated in the language of the verdict form, “willfully or wantonly negligent, reckless, or done with a conscious disregard of the rights of Ms. Carroll.”

The jury also awarded damages on her allegations of defamation.