Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted last week of conspiring to recruit and groom teenage girls to be abused by Jeffrey Epstein, will request a new trial after a juror said he was a victim of sexual abuse, the Associated Press reports. Her lawyers told U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan that “based on undisputed, publicly available information, the Court can and should order a new trial without any evidentiary hearing.” The judge said the defense should make the request by Jan. 19, with prosecutors replying by Feb. 2.
One juror described a moment during the deliberations when he told fellow jurors that he, like some of the victims of the late financier Epstein, had been sexually abused as a child. He said he convinced other jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of sex abuse doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. “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 told the jury, “But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.” Potential jurors in Maxwell’s case were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking: “Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?” Prosecutors said the juror asserted that he “flew through” the questionnaire and didn’t recall being asked if he’d been an abuse victim.
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