A juror on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell who instructed reporters he was sexually abused as a baby has retained a lawyer, the trial decide stated Thursday.
The unidentified juror’s public interviews led protection legal professionals within the case to say they’ll request a brand new trial. U.S. District Choose Alison J. Nathan requested them to take action by Jan. 19.
In an order Thursday, Nathan stated the juror’s retained lawyer, Todd Spodek, had knowledgeable her that the juror didn’t need the court docket to nominate a lawyer for him as she had supplied. Spodek didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
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Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Some jurors initially doubted her accusers
The revelations by the juror in interviews printed by The Unbiased and the Every day Mail on Tuesday and Wednesday threatened to upend the responsible verdicts returned towards Maxwell final week on intercourse trafficking and conspiracy fees, amongst others.
Within the interviews, the juror stated he revealed to different jurors throughout weeklong deliberations that he was sexually abused as a baby, and he stated the knowledge helped him persuade some jurors {that a} sufferer’s imperfect reminiscence of intercourse abuse doesn’t imply it didn’t occur.
The New York Occasions reported Wednesday that it interviewed a second juror who described having been sexually abused as a baby. The newspaper stated the juror requested anonymity and stated that they’d mentioned the expertise throughout deliberations and believed the revelation had helped to form the jury’s discussions.
Reminiscences and the way they relate to sexual abuse victims have been a contentious level amongst attorneys throughout the trial as both sides summoned a reminiscence knowledgeable to testify.
Throughout deliberations, the jury requested transcripts of the testimony by the protection’s reminiscence knowledgeable, who stated reminiscences could be corroded over time by outdoors influences and normal decay.
Ultimately, the jurors concluded unanimously that Maxwell, 60, was responsible of recruiting teenage women between 1994 and 2004 for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.
No sentencing date was set.
Epstein, 66, took his personal life at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited a trial on intercourse trafficking fees.
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