Last week, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted by a jury of recruiting underage girls to fulfil the needs of accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who since died by suicide. After the guilty verdict, her lawyers had said that they would apply for an appeal. However, it looks as of there could be a retrial as her lawyers have written to the judge asking for one.
A juror recently told Reuters that he was a victim of sexual abuse and that he had convinced other jurors about memory lapses after such events. Maxwell’s lawyers have written to Judge Alison Nathan. They said that this issue of him not disclosing that he was a victim of sexual abuse presented “incontrovertible grounds for a new trial.”
According to the BBC, Christian Everdell, from Cohen and Gresser LLP also said that the juror had told reporters that he had disclosed the issue that he was a victim of sexual abuse to other jurors and had described the memory of those events.
The letter from the lawyers stated that the juror said that his disclosure had influenced the “deliberations” and had convinced other members of the jury “to convict Ms. Maxwell.”
Another juror told The New York Times that the juror had been sexually abused as a child. The juror said that the experience had been deliberated upon and that it “had appeared to help shape” the discussions by the jury.
After these disclosures were made to the media, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York wrote to Judge Alison Nathan and said that the “government believes that the court should conduct an inquiry.”
In another letter, the defense said that the government’s request for a hearing had been premature and that the “court can and should order a new trial and that Ms. Maxwell intended to request for a new trial.
Judge Nathan replied and said that setting a schedule has been done so that the defense could “move for a new trial” as issues had been raised.
On January 19, the defense will move its motion. On February 2, the government will respond. On February 9, the defense will reply. Following these dates, there could be a new trial for Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the longterm companion, friend and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, a business magnate, who committed suicide in jail, while facing sexual misconduct charges against minors.
