Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Updates
Maxwell to seek new trial after reports of juror’s sex abuse
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NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted last week of conspiring to recruit and groom teenage girls to be abused by Jeffrey Epstein, plans to request a new trial after a juror in her case revealed he was a victim of sexual abuse, her defense lawyers said Wednesday.
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The lawyers said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan that “based on undisputed, publicly available information, the Court can and should order a new trial without any evidentiary hearing.”
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The judge late Wednesday set a schedule for the defense to ask for a new trial, saying it should make the request by Jan. 19, with prosecutors replying by Feb. 2.
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She asked them to address whether “an inquiry of some kind” is permitted or required. Nathan also said she will offer a court-appointed lawyer for the juror.
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The judge’s order came after defense lawyers said Maxwell “intends to request a new trial” with a submission that will include all known undisputed remarks of the juror, along with recorded statements and the questionnaire all jurors filled out.
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”It is clear to Ms. Maxwell that based on this record alone a new trial is required,” they said, urging that all trial jurors be examined to evaluate their conduct if a hearing occurs.
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In interviews published Tuesday and Wednesday by The Independent and the Daily Mail, one juror described a moment during the deliberations when he told fellow jurors in Maxwell’s trial that, like some of the victims of the late financier Epstein, he had been sexually abused as a child. And he said he convinced other jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of sex abuse doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
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“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the color of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he said he told the jury, according to The Independent. “But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.”
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The judge denied a request by another defense lawyer who wrote a separate letter asking her to suspend all other post-trial motions in the case.
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In their own letter to Nathan, even prosecutors said those reports “merit attention by the Court.” The juror was identified only by his first and middle name in the articles.
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Prosecutors suggested in their letter that Nathan schedule a hearing in about one month, along with a schedule for lawyers to file briefs regarding the applicable law and the scope of the hearing.
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“The Government respectfully submits that any juror investigation should be conducted exclusively under the supervision of the Court,” prosecutors wrote.
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Potential jurors in Maxwell’s case were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking: “Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?”
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Quoting from the press reports, prosecutors said the juror asserted that he “flew through” the questionnaire and didn’t recall being asked if he’d been a victim of sex abuse.