NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. choose refused to throw out Ghislaine Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking conviction Friday, regardless of a juror’s failure to reveal earlier than the trial started that he’d been a sufferer of childhood sexual abuse.
Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted in December of serving to the millionaire Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse a number of teenage ladies.
U.S. Decide Alison J. Nathan declined to order a brand new trial weeks after questioning the juror beneath oath in a New York courtroom about why he didn't disclose his private historical past as an abuse survivor on a questionnaire in the course of the jury choice course of.
The juror had stated he “skimmed means too quick” by means of the questionnaire and didn't deliberately give the mistaken reply to a query about intercourse abuse.
“I didn’t lie with a view to get on this jury,” he stated.
In an opinion sure to set off a better courtroom attraction, Nathan stated the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse in the course of the jury choice course of was extremely unlucky, however not deliberate.
The choose additionally concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and will function a good and neutral juror.”
Had the juror answered the questions accurately, Maxwell’s attorneys had stated they probably may have objected to the person’s presence on the jury on the grounds that he may not be truthful to an individual accused of an analogous crime.
The U.S. legal professional’s workplace declined remark Friday. Messages have been left with Maxwell’s attorneys.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted of intercourse trafficking and different prices after a monthlong trial that featured testimony from 4 girls who stated she performed a task in setting them up for abuse by Epstein.
Epstein killed himself in August 2019 as he awaited trial at a federal jail in New York on associated intercourse trafficking prices.
Maxwell says she’s harmless.
After the trial’s conclusion, the juror, recognized in courtroom papers solely as Juror No. 50, gave interviews with a number of media retailers describing deliberations, and disclosing that he’d been abused as a toddler. He stated he persuaded some fellow jurors that a sufferer’s imperfect reminiscence of abuse doesn’t imply it didn’t occur.
Potential jurors within the case had been have been required to fill out a 50-page questionnaire together with a query that requested: “Have you ever or a pal or member of the family ever been the sufferer of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?”
The juror checked “No.”
The juror stated in one of many interviews that he didn’t bear in mind being requested that query, which was No. 48 on the shape.
Protection attorneys for Maxwell requested the choose to instantly order a brand new trial, however she stated she couldn't achieve this with out questioning the juror.
After Nathan questioned the juror in early March, attorneys on either side submitted written arguments. Prosecutors stated the juror made an “sincere mistake” and that it was “crystal clear” that Maxwell obtained a good trial.
Maxwell’s attorneys disagreed.
“Excusing Juror 50’s false solutions as a result of he believes his hid historical past of sexual abuse didn't have an effect on his means to function a good and neutral juror doesn't fulfill the looks of justice,” they argued. “Solely a brand new trial would.”
However Nathan rejected that reasoning, writing that the juror’s claims that he remained neutral towards Maxwell rang true.
When questioned about it, he answered “frankly and truthfully, even when the solutions he gave have been the reason for private embarrassment and remorse,” she stated. “His tone, demeanor and responsiveness gave no indication of false testimony.”
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