Prosecutors in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial have asked the judge to launch an inquiry about statements made by one of the jurors in the case, but Maxwell’s attorneys said Judge Alison Nathan should just order a new trial.
A member of the panel told Reuters that he shared his experiences with sexual abuse with other jurors, helping convince some to vote to convict the 58-year-old socialite, the New York Post reported.
She was charged with grooming young girls for sex with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — and at times participating in the abuse herself — and was convicted on all but one count last week.
The juror, identified by his first and middle names. also spoke to a British tabloid about his experience.
“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,” Scotty David told the Independent. “But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.”
To Reuters, he said, “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.”
A questionnaire asked potential jurors to disclose if they or any member of their family had been a victim of sexual abuse at the beginning of jury selection. Scotty David told Reuters that he “flew through” the questionnaire and couldn’t remember a question about past sexual abuse. He said he would have answered the question honestly.
The four prosecutors who tried the case asked for an inquiry and hearing about the statements.
“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 also said that Scotty David should be offered legal counsel if he desires for any hearing.
Maxwell’s attorneys, however, said that Maxwell deserved a new trial, if the juror did not answer the question truthfully.
“The Court can and should order a new trial,” they wrote.
Maxwell faces up to 65 years in prison when she is sentenced.
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[Featured image: FILE – In this Nov. 7, 1991, file photo, Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of late British publisher Robert Maxwell, reads a statement expressing her family’s gratitude to Spanish authorities after recovery of his body. (AP Photo/Dominique Mollard, File)]
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