Ghislaine Maxwell files for RETRIAL after juror ‘failed to reveal sex abuse trauma’
GHISLAINE Maxwell has filed for RETRIAL weeks after she was convicted, it has been reported.
Attorneys for shamed Brit socialite Maxwell have requested her sex trafficking conviction be overturned after a juror failed to disclose he was sexually abused as a child before the trial.
In a court filing on Friday, they said the motion for retrial had been filed under seal, but referenced Juror No. 50, Scotty David, reports.
Attorney Bobbi C. Sternheim wrote in a letter to Judge Alison Nathan: "For the reasons set forth in the Motion, we request that all submissions pertaining to Juror No. 50 remain under seal until the Court rules on the Motion."
It comes after juror Scotty David, who sat during the three-week trial in New York, revealed he told the jury about his own abuse as a child during deliberations, potentially affecting the verdict.
Last month, 60-year-old Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking and grooming girls for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse, with the pair described as “partners in crime”.
The jury of six women and six men convicted her on five out of six counts as she was found not guilty of enticing a minor to engage in an illegal sex act after more than 40 hours of deliberation.
But prosecutors said earlier this month there were "incontrovertible grounds" for a new trial following Scotty David's admissions.
Most read in The Sun
David was the first of two jurors who revealed they had experienced sexual abuse themselves and the role that sharing it played in deliberations.
He first told DailyMail.com that he had not revealed this history during jury selection because it had not been asked on the juror questionnaire.
When it was pointed out that question 48 of 50 asked exactly that question, he told the publication he did not remember, but had answered all questions "honestly".
In a letter filed in Federal Court earlier this month, US State Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, wrote: "In particular, the juror has described being a victim of sexual abuse.
"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'."
The letter was signed off by all four prosecutors and asked for a hearing to be scheduled within the month.
Asked about Maxwell's conviction, David previously told the : “For those who testified, for those who came forward and for those who haven’t come forward. I’m glad that Maxwell has been held accountable.
'SOPHISTICATED PREDATOR'
“This verdict shows that you can be found guilty no matter your status.”
Prosecutors, who have requested an inquiry into the juror's statements is conducted, will have until February 2 to respond to Maxwell's motion.
U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan last week scheduled Maxwell's sentencing hearing for June 28.
The Best Sun Exclusives
Last month, Maxwell was found guilty of helping entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein's various properties for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.
On the final day of the trial in December, Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe summed up the prosecution case against Maxwell, who she said was a "grown woman who preyed on vulnerable kids”.
The prosecutor said Maxwell was a “sophisticated predator who knew exactly what she was doing” who “ran the same playbook again and again and again”.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“She manipulated her victims and groomed them. She caused deep and lasting harm to young girls,” Moe said.
As the verdict was handed down by a jury of six women and six men, Maxwell - branded "dangerous" by the prosecution - showed little emotion.
