TEAM GHIS WANTS A RETRIAL
Juror’s ‘abuse’ reveal sparks push
A Ghislaine Maxwell juror who revealed in a number of press interviews that he is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse has created chaos in the case, with prosecutors requesting a probe into the jury and Maxwell’s defense attorneys calling for a new trial.
The two sides made their requests in a series of letters filed to Judge Alison Nathan on Wednesday after the juror told Reuters that sharing his sexual-abuse experience with other panelists help convince them to convict the disgraced socialite.
Judge makes no promises
Jurors who served on the panel filled out questionnaires at the start of jury selection, which included a question about whether they or members of their family had been victims of sexual abuse.
The juror who spoke to Reuters, identified by his first and middle names, Scotty David, said he “flew through” the questionnaire, but was sure that he answered the question truthfully.
“The Court can and should order a new trial,” Maxwell’s attorneys wrote to Nathan in a letter.
Maxwell’s lawyers were responding to a letter filed earlier in the day by federal prosecutors in the case, who requested Nathan launch an inquiry and hold a hearing about the juror’s statements to media outlets.
“The Government believes the court should conduct an inquiry. The Government proposes that the Court schedule a hearing in approximately one month, along with an appropriate schedule for pre-hearing briefing regarding the applicable law and the scope of the hearing,” they wrote.
They added that if Nathan does hold a hearing, she should inform the juror and ask him if he would like legal counsel appointed for it.
Nathan did not rule on either request Wednesday, but set a schedule for the attorneys to submit briefs on their arguments.
The first brief, the defense’s motion on a new trial, should be submitted by Jan. 19, she ordered.
The defense team argued in their letter that prosecutors’ request for a hearing was premature, arguing that the judge should just order an entire new trial if a juror did not answer truthfully on a questionnaire.
“The Government believes the court should conduct an inquiry. The Government proposes that the Court schedule a hearing in approximately one month, along with an appropriate schedule for pre-hearing briefing regarding the applicable law and the scope of the hearing,” they wrote.
Maxwell was convicted last week of recruiting and grooming underage girls for years as the madam to dead pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
A second juror’s story
Meanwhile on Wednesday, The New York Times reported they spoke to a second juror who said they had also been sexually abused as a child and shared that experience with other members of the panel during their deliberations.
The conversation about sexual abuse “appeared to help shape the jury’s discussions,” the Times reported.
Scotty David, the first juror who spoke to the media, told Reuters that he shared his sexual abuse with the panel after some jurors questioned the memories of the accusers who testified at trial.
He told the jury that he remembered the key elements of what happened when he was abused, but not every detail, Reuters reported.
“When I shared that, they were able to sort of come around on, they were able to come around on the memory aspect of the sexual abuse,” said David, who is 35 years old and lives in Manhattan.
David expounded on that in an interview with British newspaper The Independent.
“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the color of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he said he explained to the other jurors.
“But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.”
The jury deliberated for five full days after the monthlong trial in Manhattan federal court.
The panel requested troves of evidence, including testimony from a false-memory expert called by the defense, before reaching a unanimous verdict and convicting Maxwell on five of six counts.
David told Reuters that coming to a unanimous verdict “wasn’t easy.”
“There’s a room of 12 people and we all have to be on the same page and we all have to understand what’s going on,” he said. “And then we have to agree. So that’s partly why it took so long.”
Maxwell faces up to 65 years at sentencing if a new trial is not granted.