Ghislaine Maxwell juror regrets not disclosing sex abuse
- The juror says it was a mistake not to disclose his history despite being asked about it during the selection process, but he did not lie to get on the jury
- The British socialite was convicted of helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teen girls, but her lawyers say the verdict should be thrown out
A juror told a judge Tuesday that failing to disclose his child abuse history during jury selection at the trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was one of the biggest mistakes of his life – but an unintentional one.
“I didn’t lie in order to get on this jury,” the juror said.
A US judge questioned the juror extensively as part of an effort to decide whether the revelation about his personal history as a sex abuse survivor will spoil the verdict in the sex trafficking trial.
Lawyers for Maxwell – who was present in the courtroom, clad in a dark blue jail smock – say the verdict should be thrown out. Maxwell’s lawyers potentially could have objected to the man’s presence on the jury on the grounds that he might not be fair to a person accused of a similar crime.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted in late December of helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse multiple teenage girls from 1994 to 2004.