- Title: Maxwell faces 'heavy burden' in getting new trial - NYU law professor
- Date: 20th January 2022
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 20, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF LEGAL ETHICS AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, STEPHEN GILLERS, SAYING: "After Maxwell's conviction, it came to light that one of the jurors, maybe two, had been the victim of child sexual abuse and actually discussed that in the jury room. Apparently, the questionnaire potential jurors asked to fill out to decide whether or not they're eligible to be on the jury did not reveal that information. It asks for that information, but apparently the two jurors, or at least one of them, did not disclose prior child sexual abuse as would be required. And now the lawyers for Maxwell have said that she did not get an unbiased jury for that reason."
- Embargoed: 3rd February 2022 18:30
- Keywords: Ghilaisne Maxwell Jeffrey Epstein Stephen Gillers jury sex offender trafficking
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA004FV1FFBB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers are formally asking for a new trial after the British socialite's lawyers raised concern about a juror's possible failure to disclose before the trial that he was sexually abused as a child. But a New York legal expert said in an interview Thursday (January 20) that Maxwell faces a "heavy burden" in getting a new trial.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted on Dec. 29 on five counts of sex trafficking and other crimes for recruiting and grooming teenage girls to have sexual encounters with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell faces up to 65 years in prison.
Maxwell's lawyers said this month there were "incontrovertible grounds" for a new trial after a juror, who asked to be identified by his first and middle names, Scotty David, told Reuters and other news media that he described being abused as a child during jury deliberations.
"The law likes finality, and unless there's something in the record of these jurors' behavior that gives the judge serious doubt about their impartiality, Maxwell will lose," Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University, said in an interview. "Maxwell has that heavy burden to establish a right to a new trial... But she gets a chance to prove her point."
Concerns have been raised that Scotty David did not disclose his abuse during pretrial screening.
Prospective jurors were asked in a questionnaire whether they had ever been a victim of sexual abuse. Scotty David told Reuters he did not remember the question, but that he would have answered honestly.
Such a dynamic could prove determinative, according to Gillers.
"Was it an oversight? Was it just sloppy? Or was it intentional? If it was just sloppy, it's almost certain that Maxwell will not succeed in getting a new trial. If it was intentional, then that casts doubt on the juror's credibility and fairness," said Gillers.
Prosecutors, who have requested that U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan conduct an inquiry into the juror's statements, will have until Feb. 2 to respond to Maxwell's motion.
Epstein killed himself in 2019 at the age of 66 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.
"The ghost of Epstein hangs over the entire proceeding," said Gillers. "But in many ways, the immediate issue before the court is quite is quite ordinary. It could happen in the most mundane case. It can happen in a civil case as well as a criminal case. So we have a kind of disconnect between the notoriety of the case and the narrow nature of the legal issue before Judge Nathan."
Gillers added that the push to hold abusers accountable shouldn't be derailed, no matter the outcome.
"The decision is a decision to overturn the verdict will be on this very narrow jury qualification ground. I don't think it will have any effect on the broader question of societal response to sexual abuse and child sexual abuse," he said.
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