Decide upholds Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction

A trial decide has concluded there was enough proof to convict Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Related Press

29 April 2022, 22:26

• 3 min learn

NEW YORK -- A choose concluded Friday that there was sufficient proof to convict British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, but she additionally gave Maxwell a legal victory by concluding that three conspiracy counts charged the identical crime and she can only be sentenced for one.

U.S. District Decide Alison J. Nathan said in her written ruling that the jury’s guilty verdicts had been “readily supported” by extensive witness testimony and documentary proof at a one-month trial that concluded in December.

Legal professionals for Maxwell had requested her to reject the decision on multiple grounds, together with inadequate evidence.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted of recruiting teenage ladies for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.

Nathan mentioned that she'll solely sentence Maxwell in late June on three of the five counts she was convicted on after concluding that two conspiracy counts have been duplicates of the third.

“This authorized conclusion under no circumstances calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Somewhat, it underscores that the jury unanimously discovered — 3 times over — that the Defendant is responsible of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and site visitors underage ladies for sexual abuse,” Nathan wrote.

The reduction of counts from 5 to three was not expected to have much impact on the sentencing, when Maxwell could face a sentence ranging from several years to decades in jail.

Attorneys for Maxwell didn't return messages requesting remark. Prosecutors declined remark.

Earlier this month, the judge refused to toss out Maxwell's conviction after a juror disclosed to other jurors throughout jury deliberations that he had been sexually abused as a baby despite the fact that he had not revealed that fact in response to questions on prior intercourse abuse posed in a written questionnaire.

The juror had mentioned he “skimmed approach too quick” by way of the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the fallacious answer to a query about intercourse abuse.

In refusing to toss the decision, Nathan mentioned the juror’s failure to reveal his prior sexual abuse in the course of the jury selection process was extremely unlucky, but not deliberate.

The choose also concluded the juror “harbored no bias towards the defendant and could serve as a fair and neutral juror.”

Maxwell, arrested in July 2020, has remained incarcerated. Epstein was 66 when he took his own life in a federal jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited a intercourse trafficking trial.