Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five federal sex trafficking charges last week after a jury found that she assisted Jeffery Epstein in recruiting teenage girls to be sexually assaulted.
Maxwell faced six counts — a conspiracy charge (for agreeing to do the crime) paired with a substantive charge (for committing the crime) for each of the following: enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and sex trafficking a minor.
She was found guilty of all, except the second count, enticement of an individual under the age of 17 to travel with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Maxwell will likely face decades in prison. Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors charges to carry a maximum of 40 years, while the other charges she faced carry potential prison terms of five to 10 years.
More of this story from a CNBC report:
The British socialite’s lawyers strongly implied in publicly disclosed parts of two letters to Judge Alison Nathan that the first juror failed to reveal during the jury selection process that he was a sexual abuse victim, despite having been asked to do so on a written questionnaire.
Maxwell’s lawyers asked Nathan for a new trial on the charges, saying “we believe the law and facts are clearly on our side,” and that there are “incontrovertible grounds” for tossing out the conviction.
Prosecutors in their own letter to Nathan asking for an inquiry into the juror’s comments noted that he is quoted in reports as saying he “flew through” the jury questionnaire, and did not recall being asked whether he had been a victim of sexual abuse.
But the Manhattan resident also told reporters he would have answered honestly if asked that question, the prosecutors’ letter noted. That letter cited interviews with the juror published by Reuters, DailyMail.com and The Independent.
In his letter to Nathan, Maxwell’s lawyer Christian Everdell noted that according to the juror’s statements to reporters, his disclosure of having been sexually abused “influenced the deliberations and convinced other members of the jury to convict Ms. Maxwell.”
The juror, identified in interviews by his first and middle names, Scotty David, told The Independent that he told fellow jury members during their deliberations about his abuse to explain why some of Maxwell’s accusers might misremember certain details related to their own abuse.
“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the colour of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he told The Independent.
“But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.”
The newspaper also reported that some jurors questioned why Maxwell’s accusers did not come forward earlier with their allegations.
David told The Independent that he had not disclosed his own abuse “until I was in high school,” and said the jury room went completely silent when he shared the story of that abuse.
In a second letter to Nathan, Maxwell’s entire defense team argued that court hearing on the juror’s comments is necessary to determine whether a new trial should be granted, objected to a request by prosecutors that the judge appoint a lawyer for the first juror for any hearing.
“Based on undisputed, publicly available information, the Court can and should order a new trial without any evidentiary hearing,” the letter said.
That letter also noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a new trial can be granted if it can be shown that a “juror failed to answer honestly a material question” during jury selection and that a correct response would have been grounds to disqualify the juror from being seated.
“This standard applies even if juror’s conduct was merely inadvertent and not intentional,” the defense lawyers wrote.
Nathan later Wednesday set a briefing schedule on the issue, telling defense lawyers to file a motion by Jan. 19, and prosecutors to reply by Feb. 2.
Nathan also said she would appoint a lawyer for the first juror if he wanted one.
Sources: Westernjournal, Cnbc, Nbcnews