A federal judge reaffirmed his rejection of a mistrial in the defamation case against former President Donald Trump after writer E. Jean Carroll was awarded $83.3 million in damages last month.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a 30-page decision supporting his rejection on Wednesday, saying Trumps legal team had no merit when it made the request in court.

Trumps attorney Alina Habba had argued for a mistrial during the case last month after Carroll said she had deleted death threats she received after going public with her rape allegations against Trump. Habba took the unusual step to call for the mistrial in court in front of the jury, claiming Carroll had destroyed evidence that should have been saved.

The Associated Press notes that lawyers generally call for mistrials when the jury is not present, and Kaplan ordered the jury to discount Habbas request at the time he dismissed it.