Ghislaine Maxwell to seek new trial after juror’s sexual abuse revelations
- A juror told UK media he was abused as a child and that he convinced other jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of the assault doesn’t mean it didn’t happen
- Potential jurors were asked if they were victims of sexual assault, but the juror says he ‘flew through’ the questionnaire and does not recall this
Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted last week of conspiring to recruit and groom teenage girls to be abused by Jeffrey Epstein, intends to request a new trial after revelations by one of the jurors in her case that he was a victim of sexual abuse, her lawyers said on Wednesday.
Two defence lawyers – Jeffrey Pagliuca and Laura Menninger – said in a letter to US District Judge Alison J. Nathan that “based on undisputed, publicly available information, the court can and should order a new trial without any evidentiary hearing”.
“Ms Maxwell intends to request a new trial,” they wrote.
“Any submission will include all known undisputed remarks of the juror, including recorded statements, the relevant questionnaire, and other noncontroverted facts. It is clear to Ms Maxwell that based on this record alone a new trial is required.”
They added that if a hearing is required, it should happen soon and that all jurors who deliberated “need to be examined, not to impeach the verdict, but to evaluate the juror’s conduct”.