Verdict in Ghislaine Maxwell trial is in jeopardy

Verdict in Ghislaine Maxwell trial is in jeopardy

With the jury in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell in Manhattan, New York still out, Judge Alison Nathan today, Tuesday, December 28, issued a stark warning. Referring to the skyrocketing number of Covid cases in the city, she said the situation was “putting at risk our ability to complete this trial”.

“We are seeing an astronomical spike in the number of Covid positive cases in New York”, said the judge, before adding, “We are facing a high and escalating risk that the jurors or participants may need to quarantine, putting at risk our ability to complete this trial”.

The judge then suggested – without specifying exactly what she meant – that it was possibly time to consider asking the jury to “deliberate until a verdict is reached”. Normally, the 12 jurors finish at 5pm, but Judge Nathan said that they had all agreed to stay an extra hour each day, to give them more time to deliberate.

In the week before Christmas, to give them more time to deliberate, the judge had offered the jury one day extra, but they declined.

A request made by Maxwell’s team yesterday, Monday 27, was rejected today by Judge Nathan. Her lawyers had asked to be allowed to pass additional instructions to the jurors. This was in relation to one of the counts involving the transporting of accuser ‘Jane’.

Maxwell also suffered a setback Tuesday after Judge Nathan rejected her request to give the jury additional instructions on one of the counts related to transporting Maxwell’s accuser ‘Jane’. The judge responded to their plea saying it was ‘just wrong’, and that she refused to give the jury any further guidance.

A jury note had been received on Monday, allegedly asking the judge that if they concluded Maxwell had aided in booking ‘Jane’ a flight back from New Mexico, whether they could convict Maxwell on that charge. This came after the jury had originally been instructed to refer to the instructions she had given them.

Maxwell’s lawyers had subsequently filed a letter to the court, in which they argued that this was ‘incorrect and prejudicial to Ms. Maxwell’. They claimed that the jury was clearly confused over two counts – counts two, and four.

Count two relates to ‘Enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts’, while count four regards, ‘transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity’. Maxwell’s team had asked to be able to provide the jury with an additional three pages of instructions to help clarify these points, which the judge declined, as reported by dailymail.co.uk.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories, and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

Comments