Ghislaine Maxwell Juror With Surprise Vacation Tickets Excused from Trial
Ghislaine Maxwell Juror With Surprise Vacation Tickets Excused from Trial
(Bloomberg) -- A 33-year-old juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial whose spouse surprised him with last-minute tickets for a Christmas vacation has been freed to enjoy his holiday.
Judge Alison Nathan relented after a day of weighing the timing conflict for the juror, who lives in the Bronx and works for a government entity. The Maxwell trial, which kicked off yesterday in Manhattan, is expected to run for six weeks -- straight through the Christmas holiday.
Judge Nathan said Tuesday she’d made the decision after asking the juror to call his spouse and ask if the trip could be delayed, and found he “made an effort and can’t move” their vacation. She said he told her it was a financial burden to cancel, and she didn’t want to delay the trial to allow the juror to take the vacation.
The juror will be replaced with one of the six alternates. The alternates include a 36-year-old who studied civil engineering in the Dominican Republic and now works as a real estate broker, and a 54-year-old who lives in Westchester but works in maintenance in the city.
Maxwell is charged with trafficking girls for abuse by her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, and participating in some of the abuse herself. She faces as long as 40 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.
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