US (Washington Insider Magazine) – After expressing concerns about a juror’s apparent failure to report that he had been sexually molested as a youngster, Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers submitted a formal petition for a retrial on Wednesday.
Maxwell, 60, was found guilty last year of helping Jeffrey Epstein recruit and groom young girls for sexual abuse. If the verdict on five charges of sex trafficking as well as other offences is upheld, the British socialite could face up to 65 years in prison.
Maxwell’s defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim said in a letter to United States District court Alison Nathan late Wednesday that her client has filed a request for a new trial.
The request was not directly linked to the juror’s revelations, according to the letter. Sternheim, on the other hand, appealed that all submissions related to “Juror No. 50” be kept under wraps until the court makes a decision on the motion. Sternheim did not instantly respond to an NBC News request for comment.
Maxwell’s lawyers claimed earlier this month that the juror’s story of past sexual assault was a sufficient reason to reverse their client’s conviction on Dec. 29 and grant a fresh trial.
They claimed that the juror’s prior experience had influenced the jury’s deliberations and led other jury members to condemn Maxwell. The lawyers highlighted worries about a juror’s failure to report their past sexual abuse allegations prior to the trial.
The US government indicated on Jan. 10 that if Maxwell’s sex abuse judgment was upheld, it would be prepared to drop 2 perjury charges against her.
The offer came in the form of a joint letter from prosecutors and Maxwell’s defense team to Nathan.
Prosecutors claimed that dropping the perjury charges would be in the victims’ best interests, since it would put the case to a close while preventing the pain of having to testify again.
They also requested that Nathan sentence Maxwell in three to four months, a motion that the socialite’s attorneys objected to, citing the likelihood that the juror’s testimony could lead to a retrial.
Nathan went ahead and scheduled Maxwell’s trial date for June 28.
In August 2019, while awaiting his own prosecution on sex abuse allegations, Epstein, a millionaire and convicted sex abuser who was a longtime ally of Maxwell, committed suicide in a New York City jail cell.
