HERE’S THE RUB
Jeff’s massage table is evidence vs. Ghis
Jeffrey Epstein’s green massage table was rolled into the courtroom as evidence in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial — because it’s key to the top charge the accused madam faces.
The unorthodox piece of evidence was raised by Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe in her closing argument Monday as she explained the lone sex-trafficking charge against Maxwell, which involves an element of interstate commerce.
The sex-trafficking count relates only to testimony from Maxwell accuser Carolyn, who said she was
groped by the disgraced socialite at age 14 while preparing to massage Epstein.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, the stiffest penalty of the six counts against Maxwell.
Because Carolyn was abused by Epstein on a massage table that was
made in California and shipped to Florida, that alone affects interstate commerce, Moe said in her closing argument.
“When she was abused on a massage table that was manufactured in California, that proves that there was at least a minimal effect on interstate commerce, which is all that’s required for this count,” Moe told jurors.
Jurors must also weigh a number of other elements to convict Maxwell on the count, including whether she knew Carolyn was under 18, that she knowingly recruited her and that she caused Carolyn to engage in a “commercial sex act,” Moe said.
After her summation, Maxwell defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim objected to the characterization of the table affecting interstate commerce but was overruled by Judge Alison Nathan.
“Of course, the massage table was used in the course of the crime here,” prosecutor Andrew Rohrbach said after Sternheim raised the objection on Monday.
The massage table from the multimillionaire pedophile’s Palm Beach estate was brought into the Manhattan courtroom and briefly examined by a police officer who testified on Dec. 3.
The dark green, collapsible table was shown to jurors as Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey quizzed former Palm Beach police officer Gregory Parkinson about a search warrant he and other cops executed at the estate in October 2005.
Parkinson put on black disposable gloves and briefly examined the table in the middle of the courtroom, about 10 feet from where Maxwell sat with her defense attorneys.
He then told Comey that it was indeed the massage table seized from Epstein’s estate on Oct. 20, 2005, the day he and other officers searched the mansion.
“It’s from the second-floor south bathroom, where the shower was,” he said.
The jury in the Maxwell trial deliberated for a full day Monday and sent four notes to the judge, requesting transcripts of testimony and clarifications on what evidence they can consider for the counts against her.