Two weeks of emotional, express testimony at Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse abuse trial from 4 ladies who mentioned the British socialite groomed them as youngsters for deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein might largely undercut the protection’s argument that prosecutors are utilizing Maxwell as a scapegoat, authorized specialists mentioned.
The ladies – who say they met Maxwell at completely different instances in locations as faraway as Florida, New Mexico and London – all portrayed her as central to the sexual encounters that they had with Epstein.
Maxwell’s attorneys did rattle three of the 4 accusers throughout powerful cross-examination and scored two favorable rulings from U.S. District Decide Alison Nathan, who mentioned that two of the 4 ladies prosecutors referred to as victims have been sufficiently old to consent on the time of the alleged encounters.
However because the protection prepares to mount its case, persuading jurors that Maxwell was not concerned can be tough, some specialists mentioned.
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“The federal government has performed a superb job of holding the jury centered on Maxwell,” mentioned Sarah Krissoff, a companion at regulation agency Day Pitney and former federal prosecutor. “The federal government will argue that the truth that every sufferer has a distinct story – and didn’t exaggerate Maxwell’s position in that story – demonstrates the credibility of these accounts.”
Prosecutors, who say Maxwell recruited and groomed 4 teenage women for Epstein from 1994 to 2004, rested their case on Friday in Manhattan federal courtroom.
Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not responsible to eight counts of intercourse trafficking and different fees. Her attorneys didn’t reply to a request for remark for this story.
Her attorneys have argued that she is a “handy stand in” for Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on intercourse abuse fees.
The remarkably related accounts of the accusers might assist undermine that argument, specialists mentioned.
For instance, a girl testifying beneath the pseudonym Kate mentioned that Maxwell inspired her to rub Epstein’s ft when Kate was 17 in London in 1994. Weeks later, at Maxwell’s request, Kate mentioned she gave Epstein a full-body therapeutic massage that escalated right into a sexual encounter.
Annie Farmer, now 44, mentioned she and Maxwell gave Epstein a foot therapeutic massage on the financier’s New Mexico ranch in 1996, when Farmer was 16.
“I watched what she was doing and he or she instructed me,” Farmer mentioned.
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Massages, and Maxwell’s central position in them, got here up repeatedly throughout the ladies’s testimony.
Jane, who mentioned she was 14 in 1994 when Epstein first abused her, testified that Maxwell would generally take part when massages later escalated into sexual encounters.
Prosecutors mentioned the ladies’s testimony offered them with particulars that are essential to show fees that Maxwell enticed the women to journey throughout state strains and in some circumstances paid them for sexual exercise.
Jane mentioned Maxwell assisted her with preparations when she traveled to Epstein’s house in New York. And Carolyn, a girl who says Epstein abused her beginning when she was 14, mentioned she was paid $300 after she massaged Epstein. A couple of times, it was Maxwell who handed her the money, Carolyn testified.
‘Room filled with strangers’
Maxwell’s legal professionals argued that the ladies’s reminiscences have been corrupted within the many years because the alleged abuse, and that they have been motivated by cash.
Three of the 4 ladies ceaselessly grew to become agitated when the protection challenged their credibility by pointing to obvious inconsistencies between their testimonies and prior statements made to regulation enforcement.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Avenue Live performance Sequence Benefitting Wall Avenue Rising, with a Efficiency by Rod Stewart at Cipriani Wall Avenue on March 15, 2005 in New York Metropolis.
Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan by way of Getty Photos
Maxwell lawyer Laura Menninger grilled Jane about why she initially instructed the FBI that she didn’t recall being in a room alone with Epstein and Maxwell or Maxwell ever touching her.
Jane referred to as the notes “incorrect,” however on additional questioning by prosecutors cried as she defined why she didn’t share sure particulars initially.
“I used to be sitting in a room filled with strangers and telling them probably the most shameful, deepest secrets and techniques that I’d been carrying round with me my complete life,” Jane mentioned.
Later within the trial, Maxwell lawyer Jeffrey Pagliuca pressed Carolyn about $3.25 million she obtained from a compensation fund arrange for Epstein victims.
“Why is that being talked about greater than as soon as?” mentioned Carolyn, who later sobbed on the stand.
On this courtroom sketch, a witness testifying beneath the pseudonym “Carolyn” breaks down on the witness stand testifying about her experiences with Jeffery Epstein, throughout proceedings in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-abuse trial, in New York on Dec. 7, 2021.
AP Photograph/Elizabeth Williams
Jeffrey Cohen, an affiliate professor at Boston School Legislation Faculty and former federal prosecutor, mentioned the protection might argue that the accusers’ reactions beneath cross-examination might point out “they’re merely out for vengeance and clouded by ardour.”
However on this case, he mentioned, the jury would seemingly be “forgiving of the victims’ outrage.”
In a victory for the protection, U.S. District Decide Alison Nathan dominated that Kate and Farmer have been sufficiently old to consent on the time of their alleged encounters, that means any bodily contact that they had with Epstein was not “unlawful sexual exercise” as prosecutors alleged of their 2021 indictment.
However the harm to the prosecution’s case from that call could also be restricted, specialists mentioned.
Neither Kate nor Farmer are the only alleged victims underlying any of the fees Maxwell faces, that means that jurors can use Kate and Farmer’s testimony to again up the accounts of the opposite accusers.
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Kate and Farmer “described strikingly related patterns of habits on Maxwell’s half,” bolstering Jane’s and Carolyn’s testimony, mentioned Deborah Tuerkheimer, a professor at Northwestern College Faculty of Legislation.
“In vital methods, the testimony of the ladies who have been over the age of consent throughout the sexual interactions strongly corroborates the testimony of the 2 alleged victims,” Tuerkheimer mentioned.