Ghislaine Maxwell juror who revealed he was a victim of sexual abuse will be questioned under oath to determine whether he lied during jury selection process
- US District Judge Alison J. Nathan will question the juror at a March 8 public court hearing
- Maxwell, 60, remains incarcerated after she was convicted of sex trafficking, among other charges, during a December trial in which she was portrayed as the chief recruiter of teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse
- Juror told fellow jurors that, like some of the victims of Epstein, he had been sexually abused as a child
- He said he convinced other jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of sex abuse doesn´t mean it didn’t happen
- Hearing will determine ‘whether Juror 50 failed to respond truthfully during the jury selection process to whether he was a victim of sexual abuse’
A juror in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial who admitted he was a victim of sexual abuse will be questioned under oath over the answers he gave during the jury selection process.
US District Judge Alison J. Nathan on Thursday said she will hold a rare post-verdict evidentiary hearing on March 8 to determine whether juror Scotty David failed to respond truthfully ahead of the trial last year.
The federal judge also said she had rejected a request by Maxwell’s attorneys for a new trial, until she gathers more information.
Maxwell, 60, remains incarcerated after she was convicted in December of sex trafficking and other charges following a three-week trial in which she was portrayed as the chief recruiter of minors for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.
Scotty David, one of the 12 men and women who convicted Ghislaine Maxwell on five of the six counts of sex trafficking in December, revealed he had told fellow jurors he is a victim of sexual abuse during deliberations
Judge Alison Nathan, who presided over the Ghislaine Maxwell hearing, will question the juror at a March 8 public court hearing
Prosecutors said she also sometimes joined in the abuse.
In an interview with DailyMail.com last month, David, one of the 12 men and women who convicted Maxwell on five of the six counts of sex trafficking, described a moment during the deliberations when he told fellow jurors that, like some of the victims of Epstein, he had been sexually abused as a child.
He also said he had convinced other jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of sex abuse doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Nathan said it was not easy for parties to obtain the kind of hearing she will conduct regarding the juror’s conduct.
But the judge said she had concluded, and prosecutors had conceded, that the high standard required to stage a post-verdict evidentiary hearing was met ‘as to whether Juror 50 failed to respond truthfully during the jury selection process to whether he was a victim of sexual abuse.’
She said he had ‘made several direct, unambiguous statements to multiple media outlets about his own experience that do not pertain to jury deliberations and that cast doubt on the accuracy of his responses during jury selection.’
Maxwell, who is said to have been Epstein’s madam as well as his one-time girlfriend, is seen posing with the pedophile in evidence photos shown in court
She added: ‘To be clear, the potential impropriety is not that someone with a history of sexual abuse may have served on the jury.
‘Rather, it is the potential failure to respond truthfully to questions during the jury selection process that asked for that material information so that any potential bias could be explored.’
Potential jurors in Maxwell’s case were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking: ‘Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?’
Nathan said in her order that the juror’s questionnaire will be unsealed.
Meanwhile, a January 10 submission to the judge from a lawyer for the juror was unsealed Thursday.
Maxwell, 60, remains incarcerated after she was convicted of sex trafficking, among other charges, during a December trial (pictured)
In the letter, attorney Todd Spodek asked the judge to release to attorneys the written juror questionnaire that his client had filled out as the trial began.
Spodek said the juror does not recall answering questions during jury selection about his prior experience with sexual assault.
Spodek said the juror, identified only as ‘Juror 50,’ wanted to protect his privacy rights and his right to avoid self-incrimination.
Maxwell has been behind bars since her July 2020 arrest. Epstein, 66, was arrested a year earlier on sex trafficking charges, but he took his life in a Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019.
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