A New York federal judge ruled on Friday that Ghislaine Maxwell will not get a new trial even though a juror admitted to lying about his own sexual assault.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December 2021 of five counts of federal sex trafficking for grooming at least underage girls, as young as 14, for Jeffrey Epstein, 66, to sexually abuse between 1994 and 1997. In January of this year, Maxwell requested a new trial on the grounds that Juror 50, who checked “no” on a pretrial screening questionnaire about whether he had been sexually abused, told the media about being sexually abused as a child, according to Reuters.
In Friday’s ruling, U.S. Circuit Judge Alison Nathan wrote that Juror 50 “harbored no bias toward” Maxwell and could serve as an impartial juror.
“His failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate,” Nathan wrote, according to Reuters.
Maxwell’s legal team plans to appeal Friday’s ruling. Her sentencing is scheduled for June.
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[Featured image: Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell/AP Photo/John Minchillo, File]
