The jury at the trial of former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, tried in New York for sex trafficking, failed again Monday in its endless deliberations to decide the guilt or innocence of the former companion of the influential American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.
Ms Maxwell, who turned 60 on Christmas Day, is spending the holiday season in a New York prison where she has been incarcerated since the summer of 2020, prosecuted among other things for providing Mr Epstein between the years 1994 and 2004 sexually exploited underage girls.
The trial in Manhattan federal court began on November 29 and the hearing ended a week ago. Since then, and after a break for Christmas, the six women and six men of the popular jury deliberate in secret but cannot agree on a verdict for this very chic sexagenarian who grew up and evolved in hyper circles. -privileged between Europe and the United States.
The jurors will meet on Tuesday around 9:00 a.m. (2:00 p.m. GMT) and will be able to deliberate until 6:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. GMT).
– Relaxed Maxwell –
In a way, taking their defense, one of Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers, Bobbi Sternheim, asked not to “push them” because “they seem to work in a very studious way”. Her client looked relaxed, as she has been for three weeks, wearing an elegant beige sweater.
Holding a triple British, French and American nationality, Ghislaine Maxwell risks a long prison sentence if she is found guilty of the six crimes with which she is charged, all in connection with sexual violence committed by Jeffrey Epstein on four victims, minors in at the material time, and who testified during the trial.
For their fourth day of closed-door deliberations, jurors on Monday called on Judge Alison Nathan to send them a whiteboard, highlighters and post-it notes in different colors. They also asked for a precise legal definition of the offense of “incitement to debauchery” as well as the transcription of several testimonies, including that of a former boyfriend of one of the four accusers, known under the pseudonym of “Jane “.
Suspected of having surrounded himself for years with many young girls, whom he asked for sexual massages in his luxurious residences in Florida, New Mexico or in the US Virgin Islands, Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in a new prison. York in the summer of 2019. A death that caused a scandal, the influential financier taking away his secrets and depriving dozens of victims of a trial.
A year later, Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in the northeastern United States.
– “Sophisticated predator” –
This regular in the international jet set, daughter of media mogul Robert Maxwell, who died in 1991, has been portrayed by prosecutor Alison Moe as a “sophisticated predator” and a key figure in the system set up with Jeffrey Epstein, of which she was the “partner in love” and “the right arm”.
Concretely, the jury must say if Ghislaine Maxwell encouraged one of the victims, “Jane”, to have sexual relations with the multimillionaire from 1994 to 1997, between his 14 and 17 years. Or if she was guilty of sex trafficking against “Carolyn”, paid 300 dollars by sex massage and also underage at the material time. “Carolyn” referred to the defendant as the one setting up the dates and assured her that she had seen her naked and touched her chest in the Palm Beach villa.
For her part, “Jane” recounted how the couple had approached and put her at ease, promising to help this young girl from a disadvantaged family in Palm Beach.
The defense on the contrary pleaded the acquittal, assuring that there was “no proof” that Ghislaine Maxwell recruited only one of the four victims to deliver it to Jeffrey Epstein and criticizing “the very bad and variable memory” of the accusers on events more than 25 years old.
Since the beginning of the criminal proceedings, Ghislaine Maxwell has pleaded not guilty: “Your honor, the prosecution has not provided evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, so I do not need to testify,” he said. she affirmed on December 17 during her only and very brief speech.
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