Injured Ghislaine Maxwell is seen in this photo of alleged abuse in prison
Ghislaine Maxwell will spend Christmas – and her 60th birthday – in limbo and in prison after a jury failed to reach a verdict on sex trafficking cases
The jury deliberated for its third day and sent a note requesting three transcripts, but did not come to a decision.
Maxwell appeared to be relaxed and laughing with his lawyers and hugged the two before being taken to prison.
The court will take a break for the rest of the week and return on Monday.
Despite pleading not guilty to any alleged crime, Maxwell will spend Christmas Day – which is also his 60th birthday – behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center, which he describes as a “hell hole” and where he was arrested. They have been kept since then. July 2020.
Maxwell maintained his innocence and his lawyers beat up those who accused him of being motivated by false memory and money.
In a legal filing earlier this year, Maxwell claimed that his treatment in prison was so bad it would be ‘appropriate for Hannibal Lecter’.
But Maxwell’s lawyers claimed they were “not a fit for a 59-year-old woman who poses no threat to anyone”.
At one point, Maxwell ‘barricaded’ himself in a video conference room at the prison with a carriage of legal documents, prosecutors claimed, and ‘a security threat’ by blocking the door and preventing guards from accessing the room. Understood.
The jury of six men and six women has gone home on vacation after the third day’s discussion. The Main Jury Appearing in Court Sketches on Tuesday
Vacant seats are depicted by a court artist as the jury continued deliberations before deciding to step down for the Christmas holiday.
Ghislaine Maxwell will spend Christmas Day in a 10x12ft prison cell in New York as she awaits a verdict in her high-profile sex trafficking case.
Image: Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) where Ghislaine Maxwell is being held
Judge Alison Nathan told the jury to ‘be safe’ over the Christmas break because of the Omicron version of the coronavirus.
She said she wanted to “recover” them on Monday, when in court in New York everyone would have to wear an N95 or KN95 mask to enter the building.
Near the end of the day the jury asked for another copy of the transcript of accuser Jane’s testimony.
He also sought the testimony of another accuser, Kate and Epstein’s former Palm Beach house manager, Juan Alesi.
The jury looked at the option to deliberate on Thursday whether not because they had made ‘plans’, he said in a note.
A jury of six men and six women has now deliberated for 16 hours and 20 minutes.
Maxwell, 59, denies six counts of kidnapping and taking underage girls to Jeffrey Epstein.
On Tuesday – the second day of deliberations – jurors appeared to zero in on both accusers.
They deliberated throughout the day on Tuesday and sent four notes to the judge, one of which pertained to Annie Farmer.
They wanted to know whether they could use her testimony for two counts of conspiracy to woo and lead an underage girl to engage in sexual acts.
Judge Nathan said she would tell them they could.
Earlier the jury was asked to look at the notes of an FBI interview given by Carolyn in 2007, the first time she had spoken to law enforcement about abuses by Epstein.
Judge Nathan said it was not recorded in the evidence so he could not see it.
However, the jury may refer to this mention by the defense in the cross-examination of Caroline.
On Tuesday, after more than an hour of deliberation, the jury sent its first note at 10.10 a.m.
Judge Alison Nathan said the jury was seeking transcripts of testimony from Jane, Annie and Caroline — but did not mention Kate.
Kate is the only prosecutor whose claims should not be considered a crime charged in the indictment.
Prosecutor Maureen Comey said the two sides needed to agree on some amendments before the tapes could be handed over.
Defense attorney Bobby Sternheim agreed.
The jury was not brought out and Judge Nathan said she would give them the transcript in the deliberation room.
Holding a green folder, Maxwell entered the court wearing a black turtleneck sweatshirt and black pants.
He hugged his lawyers and shook hands with a young woman in the public gallery.
Maxwell’s defense made a conclusive argument on Monday afternoon, telling the jury that she was ‘an innocent woman who was wrongly accused of crimes she did not commit.’
Maxwell’s lawyer, Laura Meninger, said in her closing remarks: ‘The government has failed to prove any of the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt and the only correct verdict in this case is not guilty in each case.’
The defense again attempted to discredit the accounts of the four accused, as Meninger said, “the evidence has established what we have told you, that the stories relied upon by the government are false memories, manipulation and money.” But in this case the order is reversed. money brought to the accused FBI Where his personal injured lawyer was sitting there.
Regarding how Maxwell was portrayed, Meninger said that he was made to look like ‘Cruella de Vil and the Devil Wears Prada All in One Wrapped’.
Meninger said such a painting was ‘as old as Hollywood’.
“The lawyers manipulated their stories and the government accepted their stories without verifying them,” Meninger said.
Meninger said that “suddenly” the accusers had “recovered memories after years”.
Isabel Maxwell stands before the press after leaving Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday night
Thurgood Marshall, a member of the prosecution team in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, leaves the United States Courthouse with boxes of papers as deliberations by the jury
He said: ‘Memories of the seizure that included Ghislain, that Ghislain was there, that Ghislain was the culprit.’
A jury of six men and six women deliberated throughout the day and sent four notes to the judge, one of which pertained to Annie Farmer (pictured in a school photo)
Meninger said prosecutors spent a lot of time talking about Epstein’s lifestyle, his wealth and his wealth, and his private planes, “just like a sensationalist newspaper”.
Meninger said Epstein was a ‘master manipulator’ who ‘abused his money and his power’.
He said: ‘We are not here to defend Jeffrey Epstein, he is not my client’, but added: ‘Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein’.
Meninger claimed that prosecutors were ‘inspired’ to go after Maxwell when Epstein died.
The idea was that ‘Ghislain was there, she would have known.’
Meninger criticized prosecutors for showing the jury dozens of photos out of 38,000 seized from Epstein’s New York home in 2019.
He said: Where are the remaining 31,960 pictures? Who was in those pictures? Was it another girlfriend? other women?
Nor should the jury draw any conclusions from Epstein keeping Maxwell’s photographs. Meninger asked the jury if an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend had pictures of them, would that make them a ‘sex offender’?
Meninger condemned the use of such images as ‘outright sensationalism’.
The couple appears in a photograph of a European city. Ghislaine is seen kissing Jeffrey Epstein on the cheek
Turning to the recollections of the accused, Meninger said he “incorporated Ghislaine Maxwell into his narrative” after “making the law”.
Meninger said: ‘You don’t need a lawyer to talk to the FBI’.
Meninger said it fell to the accused’s defense for asking “tough questions” and cross-examination revealed that the “truth was manipulated and changed over time” with the aim of getting payment to the victims.
Meninger said through discrepancies in Jane and Caroline’s statements, they suffered from ‘post event suggestion’, as their ‘false memory’ expert Elizabeth Loftus describes it – adding new and false information after the event.
According to Meninger, prosecutors had “broken promises” to produce several House staff, family members and other witnesses to support the claims.
The view held by prosecutors that Maxwell became a ‘facilitator of sexual abuse’ for Epstein to maintain his ‘prosperous’ lifestyle was erroneous.
Meninger said that Maxwell was “a beautiful woman in her 30s” at the time, who was just starting her career.
Epstein was ‘manipulating everyone around him’ and ‘dating women behind his (Maxwell’s) back’.
Meninger said that ‘perhaps it was Jeffrey who needed Ghislain and his connections’, not that he needed her for his money.
Turning to each accuser, Meninger said that Jane was “like an actress who forgot her lines”—Jane is an actress in a soap opera.