(Bloomberg) — A lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell said comments by a juror in press interviews since the Dec. 29 verdict could be grounds for a new trial.
“The juror told reporters that he disclosed to the other members of the jury during deliberations that he was a victim of sexual abuse and further described his memory of those events,” Maxwell’s lawyer Christian Everdell wrote in a letter Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan. “According to the juror, his disclosure influenced the deliberations and convinced other members of the jury to convict Ms. Maxwell.”
The letter followed one sent earlier in the day by prosecutors asking Nathan to investigate the juror’s comments. “Assuming the accuracy of the reporting, the juror asserted that he ‘flew through’ the prospective juror questionnaire and does not recall being asked whether he had been a victim of sexual abuse, but stated that ‘he would have answered honestly.’” prosecutors noted.
The juror, identified by press outlets only by his first and middle names, Scotty David, said in interviews with Reuters, The Independent, and the Daily Mail that he was a victim of sexual abuse. He told Reuters that he didn’t recall being asked about his experiences during jury selection. He also said that his story helped sway some jurors who questioned the accuracy of Maxwell’s accusers, and told The Daily Mail that he wasn’t the only juror who’d shared stories of being sexually abused.
Prospective jurors in the case were asked specifically during the selection process if they or anyone close to them had previously been a victim of sexual abuse, with those answering in the affirmative subject to additional questioning behind closed doors. Scotty David, who was known as Juror No. 50 at the trial, was not subject to such questioning.
New Trial
A number of legal experts have suggested that a juror lying in response to that question could result in a new trial for Maxwell. In 2015, four convictions in what was then the biggest criminal tax-fraud case ever to go to trial were thrown out after it was learned that an alcoholic, suspended lawyer lied to get on the jury. A court in New York found that the juror had hidden her past as a suspended lawyer, lied about her address and failed to disclose more than five arrests.
Maxwell, who was accused of luring and grooming underage girls for sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and participating in some of the abuse herself, was convicted on five of six counts in her indictment. Those included the most serious charge of trafficking a minor for sex, which carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
Four women testified at trial that they were abused as teenagers by Maxwell and Epstein. Scotty David told the Daily Mail that he approached the trial with an open mind about her guilt but eventually decided she was as guilty as Epstein.
“I don’t want to call her a monster, but a predator is the right word,” he told the tabloid.
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