Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted final week of aiding Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuses, deserves a brand new trial, her lawyer mentioned on Wednesday after a juror instructed media together with Reuters that he had been a sufferer of sexual abuse.
In a letter to U.S. District Decide Alison Nathan in Manhattan, who presided over Maxwell’s trial, the lawyer, Christian Everdell, mentioned there have been “incontrovertible grounds” for Maxwell to get a brand new trial, to serve the curiosity of justice.
He referred to as the matter “a problem of urgent significance,” saying disclosures by the juror “influenced the deliberations and satisfied different members of the jury to convict Ms. Maxwell.”
Everdell filed the letter shortly after asking Nathan to open an inquiry into the juror’s statements.
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Nathan’s choice on whether or not a brand new trial is warranted may hinge on how the juror responded to questions throughout jury choice about his experiences with sexual abuse, which authorized specialists mentioned was a key query that protection attorneys have been taking a look at to weed out probably biased jurors.
The workplace of U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams, which prosecuted Maxwell, declined to remark.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted on Dec. 29 of intercourse trafficking and different expenses for recruiting and grooming underage women for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.
Epstein, a financier and convicted intercourse offender, killed himself in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail whereas awaiting his personal intercourse trafficking trial.
The juror, who requested to be recognized by his first and center names, Scotty David, instructed Reuters on Tuesday night that in deliberations, after some jurors expressed skepticism concerning the accounts of two of Maxwell’s accusers, he shared his expertise of getting been sexually abused as a toddler.
“Once I shared that, they have been in a position to form of come round on, they have been in a position to come round on the reminiscence side of the sexual abuse,” Scotty David, a 35-year-old Manhattan resident, mentioned, referring to different jurors.
Scotty David didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.
Juror questionnaires requested about sexual assault
Following the request for a brand new trial, lawyer Todd Spodek made an look within the case and mentioned in a courtroom submitting that he was representing Juror No. 50. Spodek didn’t give the juror’s identify and didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Juror No. 50 was one of many 18 jurors chosen on Nov. 29 to function a juror or an alternate.
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Tons of of potential jurors stuffed out questionnaires that requested them, amongst different issues, in the event that they or their members of the family had skilled sexual abuse or assault.
Throughout follow-up questioning, Nathan requested those that answered “sure” if they’d nonetheless be capable to be truthful and neutral.
Scotty David instructed Reuters he didn’t recall a query about private experiences with sexual abuse on the questionnaire, however that he would have answered actually. He mentioned he “flew by” the questionnaire.
He mentioned Nathan didn’t ask about his private expertise with sexual abuse throughout follow-up questioning.
Throughout follow-up questioning on Nov. 16, Juror No. 50 instructed Nathan that he had learn a information article and seen a CNN broadcast about Epstein’s loss of life. The juror mentioned he heard that Epstein had a girlfriend, however that he in any other case knew nothing about Maxwell.
When Nathan requested Juror No. 50 if he may put apart something he learn or heard to achieve an neutral verdict, he replied, “Sure, completely.”
Prosecutors mentioned the juror’s statements to the media “advantage consideration” by the courtroom and requested for a listening to to be scheduled in a few month.
Media cited by prosecutors embrace Reuters, the Each day Mail and The Impartial.
Afterward Tuesday, The New York Occasions reported {that a} second juror described having been sexually abused as a toddler throughout deliberations. That juror, who requested anonymity to talk to the Occasions, mentioned this revelation appeared to assist form the jury’s dialogue.
Mistake or omission
Moira Penza, a accomplice on the Wilkinson Stekloff regulation agency and a former federal prosecutor, mentioned any inquiry into Scotty David would probably deal with whether or not the juror made a mistake or omission in answering questions on an preliminary screening questionnaire for potential jurors or follow-up questions from the decide.
“Protection attorneys will argue that this query was so half and parcel to determining that juror’s bias or any juror’s bias,” she mentioned.
Penza mentioned there have been cases the place courts granted new trials primarily based on “purposeful lies or omissions” in the course of the strategy of screening jurors, generally known as voir dire, which she mentioned “will not be what we’re listening to to this point.”
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Maxwell faces as much as 65 years in jail for her conviction.
Nathan gave Maxwell’s attorneys till Jan. 19 to formally request a brand new trial and clarify whether or not an inquiry is required, with a response from prosecutors due by Feb. 2.
Maxwell individually faces trial on two perjury counts for allegedly mendacity about her information of Epstein’s conduct throughout a deposition for a civil case. The date of the perjury trial has not but been set.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Enhancing by Noeleen Walder, Lisa Shumaker and Rosalba O’Brien)