Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Jury indicates verdict still some way off
27 December 2021, 18:24
The socialite is charged with recruiting and grooming teenagers to be sexually assaulted by financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The jury deliberating the fate of Ghislaine Maxwell at her sex trafficking trial requested a white board and different coloured sticky notes on Monday as it signalled that it had plenty of work to do after the holiday weekend.
Jurors in Manhattan federal court also requested the transcripts of some trial testimony and the definition of “incitement.”
Judge Alison J Nathan referred them to the legal instructions that she had read to them just before they began deliberations a week ago.
The British socialite is charged with recruiting and grooming teenagers as young as 14 to be sexually assaulted by financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell’s lawyers say she was a US government scapegoat after Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a Manhattan federal jail cell while awaiting a sex trafficking trial.
Maxwell, who was behind bars for her 60th birthday on Christmas Day, was described as a central component to Epstein’s plans by four women who testified they were sexually abused as teenagers by Epstein with help from Maxwell, both when she was his girlfriend, and afterwards.
Maxwell’s lawyers said the memories of her accusers were corrupted by the passage of time and the influence of lawyers steering them toward multimillion-dollar payouts from a fund set up to compensate Epstein victims.
The jury, which deliberated two full days last week, already has asked to review the testimony of the four women, along with former Epstein housekeeper Juan Patricio Alessi.
They have given little hint of their overall progress on six charges, including a sex trafficking count that carries a potential penalty of up to 40 years in prison.
