Maxwell Jurors, Who May Work on Holiday, Turn to Defense

(Bloomberg) -- Jurors in the sex-trafficking trial of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell made their first request to review the testimony of defense witnesses and suggested they may need to deliberate several more days, including through the holiday weekend, before reaching a verdict.

The jurors Wednesday asked the judge for testimony transcripts of six witnesses in the case, four of whom appeared for Maxwell, including two FBI agents, a “false memory” expert, and a former assistant of Maxwell’s.

The request signals the jurors are turning their attention to defense witnesses and may be scrutinizing potential inconsistencies from the government’s witnesses. So far, they’ve asked for testimony from all four of Maxwell’s accusers, as well as four other witnesses for the prosecution. The jurors earlier on Wednesday also asked for testimony of Shawn, the ex-boyfriend of one of Maxwell’s accusers, and then later Lawrence Visoski Jr., a pilot for Maxwell’s ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell, 60, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she lured and groomed underage girls for sexual abuse by Epstein and participated in some of the abuse herself. Her lawyers claim she is being scapegoated for the crimes of Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting his own sex-trafficking trial.

Jurors Wednesday also asked for clarification on the judge’s instruction yesterday that, due to the risk of a mistrial posed by the omicron variant, the panel should expect to work until 6 p.m. every day this week until they reach a verdict. The judge confirmed that they may have to work over the holiday weekend. 

“You will continue to deliberate every day as needed until you reach a verdict,” Judge Alison Nathan said, adding, “I don’t mean to pressure you in any way. You should take all the time you need.”

Following the jury’s notes, Maxwell had an unusual, fleeting conversation with a TV reporter. Leah Saffian, a member of her defense team, had beckoned the reporter over to speak with the socialite, who was wearing a burgundy turtleneck and had her chair pulled up to the front of the spectator section, where her siblings sit. Maxwell briefly chatted with the reporter before court officials intervened, saying interviews are prohibited in the courtroom.

In its Wednesday note, the jury asked to review the testimony of Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist who testified that accounts of sexual abuse can be tainted after questioning by law enforcement and media. In her testimony, Loftus cast doubt on the accounts offered by the four women who said they were abused by Maxwell and Epstein as teenagers. 

Read more about Maxwell’s defense witnesses here.

Loftus previously testified for the defense at the sex-abuse trials of Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, among others.

Jurors also asked for the testimony transcripts of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who the defense called to highlight what they said were inconsistencies between the accusers’ testimony and statements they previously gave to law enforcement. 

Inconsistencies

Special Agent Amanda Young testified at trial that one of the accusers, “Jane,” was “not sure if Maxwell ever called her to make appointments” for massages with Epstein and did not “have a specific memory of the first time” she was assaulted by him. Jane gave a vivid account of that encounter on the stand.

Jason Richards, the other FBI agent, likewise testified that another accuser, Carolyn, told him during an interview that Epstein had called her to arrange at least one sexualized massage. At the trial, she testified that Maxwell had called to make those arrangements. 

The jury also asked for the testimony of Cimberly Espinosa, a defense witness who was Maxwell’s former assistant. Espinosa said that Epstein had a “loving relationship” with Jane, who said she was subject to abuse by the financier starting from the age of 14.

The first prosecution witness whose testimony the jurors requested on Wednesday was Shawn, Carolyn’s former boyfriend. He backed up her testimony that she began going regularly to Epstein’s house to give him sexualized massages when she was around 14, getting paid hundreds of dollars each time, often by Maxwell. 

Jurors also asked for testimony from Visoski, who served as a private pilot for Epstein from 1991 to 2019. He was the first witness called in the three week trial, and he testified to meeting accuser Jane on Epstein’s plane sometime in the mid-1990s.

Maxwell’s alleged recruitment of and payments to an underage Carolyn for sex with Epstein are key to the most serious charge against her, sex-trafficking of a minor, which carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.

Apart from transcript requests, the jurors have previously asked the judge for a definition of “enticement”, clarification of the elements of one of the counts against Maxwell, and whether they could consider the testimony of accuser Annie Farmer to convict Maxwell for two conspiracy charges.

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