“We, the jury, have a verdict.” As the judge – Justice Juan Merchan – read out the jurors’ handwritten note and made the announcement, there was silence followed by a flurry of activity.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, was about to learn his fate.
Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews said: “There’s a calm that descends on a gathering outside court buildings at verdict time.
“A crowd needs quiet to hear the news because it doesn’t know where it’ll come from first.
“And so, opposite the Manhattan courthouse, a whispered hush settled over Collect Pond Park as it became clear the jury was about to deliver its verdict.
“In a crowd of several hundred, this was a shared experience of a moment they were all invested in – only half got their return.
“On the anti-Trump side, there were cheers that grew in volume as word spread and phones pinged – on the other, there was a slumped defiance.
“Outside the criminal building, it was America’s political division in a microcosm and it wasn’t going to be healed by events inside.”