Giuliani defamation trial: Jury awards election workers nearly $150 million

The jury is continuing its deliberations over the amount of damages Rudy Giuliani will have to pay for his defamatory statements targeting Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

The eight jury members have been deliberating since this morning with no questions for the judge and no indication of their progress.

During their first day of deliberations yesterday, jury members asked Judge Beryl Howell for the full report compiled by expert witness Dr. Ashlee Humphreys on the reach of Giuliani's defamatory statements, but the judge declined the request because the complete report had not been entered into evidence.

Jurors are commonly tasked with a binary decision: guilt or innocence. But because Giuliani has already been found liable for defaming Freeman and Moss, jurors are left to determine the full scope of damages -- in essence, to put a dollar figure on the cost of Giuliani's lies.

In requesting awards of $24 million for each of the two women, attorneys for the plaintiffs asked the jury in Thursday's closing arguments to compensate them for some practical costs like lost wages and a security system Freeman installed at her house. But jurors must also grapple with more abstract concepts like the women's emotional distress and potential punitive measures for Giuliani.

An attorney for Giuliani urged jurors to hew their final decision closer to the practical costs, which account for only part of the tens of millions of dollars sought by the plaintiffs.

Judge Howell is expected to allow deliberations to continue until 5 p.m. ET. If they fail to reach agreement by then, she will likely summon them back next week.

Jurors have returned for a second day of deliberations to determine what damages Rudy Giuliani will have to pay Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss for targeting them with defamatory comments.

In closing arguments yesterday, an attorney for the mother and daughter asked the jury to award each woman $24 million.

"Send a message" that powerful figures can't "assassinate the character of ordinary people," plaintiffs' attorney Michael Gottlieb told jurors.

Giuliani attorney Joseph Sibley conceded that his client had wronged Freeman and Moss, but implored jurors to levy a more measured penalty than the "catastrophic" sum requested by the plaintiffs.

"Send a message to America that we can come together with compassion and sympathy," Sibley said. "And I think we need that."

Jurors deliberated for more than three hours this afternoon without reaching a verdict on the amount of damages Rudy Giuliani will have to pay Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

"The jury's ready to go home," Judge Howell told attorneys for both parties at 5 p.m. ET.

The jury will return Friday morning to continue their deliberations.

After more than two hours of deliberation, jurors submitted a question to the judge seeking access to a report prepared by communications expert Dr. Ashlee Humphrey, who testified for the plaintiffs.

Judge Beryl Howell reported that the jury submitted a note requesting to see Dr. Humphreys' complete report on the online reach of Rudy Giuliani's defamatory claims, as well as a PowerPoint presentation that was used by attorneys for plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss during arguments.

Because attorneys for Freeman and Moss did not enter the report or the slides into evidence, the judge denied the jury's request.

Jury members returned to their deliberations after the judge informed them of her response.