Ghislaine Maxwell wore a blue prison jumpsuit, often with her shoulder-length graying hair. She was denied by a federal judge her request to include a section of evidence in a pretrial hearing in New York.
Monday’s ruling by Judge Alison Nathan was that Maxwell’s case could not be presented to the jury because it was brought for political reasons.
She also stated that victims would be allowed to testify by using pseudonyms. This will add an extra layer of secrecy and privacy to the case, which is already being closely scrutinized.
The jury selection process for the sextrafficking trial will begin on November 15, with opening statements set to begin on Nov 29.
Maxwell, 59-year-old, is accused of procuring underage girl for Jeffrey Epstein. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ghislaine Maxwell was present at a pretrial hearing in federal court in New York on Monday, ahead of the jury selection. She is shown right in an April court sketch.
Judge Alison Nathan denied a series motions by the defense asking for certain evidence to be excluded or included in the trial.
The British socialite, who is currently awaiting trial behind bars in the United States, appeared in federal court in New York wearing a prison blue jumpsuit and a mask.
She sipped water from the bottle and played with her dark, short hair that was usually gray and now shoulder-length.
In the days leading up to trial, the defense filed a series motions to prevent certain evidence or terms being used before the jury.
Monday’s hearing saw Judge Nathan reject defense attorneys’ request to ban use of the words ‘victim’ and’minor’, ruling it ‘unnecessary’ and ‘impractical’.
She also supported the prosecution’s argument that Maxwell’s ‘thoroughness of investigation’ should not be admissible because it was ‘not probative to her guilt.
Judge Nathan ruled that Epstein will not be mentioned in the jury’s proceedings regarding his sweetheart plea deal from 2007, which he received 15 months for having had sex with minor girls.
Maxwell is seen in prison earlier in the year with a ‘black eye’
Maxwell had intended to use it to show she wasn’t among the conspirators who were granted immunity. Nathan, however, stated that there was a significant risk of prejudice’ if Maxwell was allowed to enter.
However, the judge did reveal that one witness was named under the plea agreement. This confirms that Epstein’s former close associate is now against him.
Maxwell was also hit hard by Judge Nathan’s decision not to admit any evidence in support of Maxwell’s charge. However, it would be permitted during cross examination.
Maxwell claimed that she was prosecuted instead of Epstein after Epstein hanged himself in prison on August 2019. Nathan said that such evidence about the motives for the prosecution will not be allowed.
Maxwell’s attorneys also hoped to include statements from Former Attorney General William Barr could have provided evidence of ‘political persecution’, but Nathan ruled that they were irrelevant.
Judge Nathan noted that ‘the Government is not on Trial’ and that there were ‘no black-and-white’ reasons the case was brought.
Maxwell won one victory when the judge ruled email evidence that Maxwell had arranged massages for girls and women over the age of consent couldn’t be presented to the court.
However, she refused to allow witnesses to use pseudonyms. She said victims could testify under their first or last names because of the risk of ‘potential harassment’ from the media and undue embarrassment.
Nathan pointed out that using their full names could ‘chill’ their desire to testify, and prevent others from doing the same in other cases of sex crimes.
Maxwell’s attorneys filed a motion last week listing everything they don’t want to be discussed in front of the jury including ‘testimony about any alleged ‘rape’ by Jeffrey Epstein’ and ‘reference to the accusers as ‘victims’ or ‘minor victims”
Maxwell’s attorneys had filed papers late last month asking that the judge exclude any mention of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sexual assault.
The hearing was held days after Prince Andrew had filed his response to a lawsuit alleging sexual assault by a woman who claimed she was forced to have sex at Epstein’s direction.
According to the Duke of York Virginia Roberts claimed that Virginia Roberts was seeking “another payday at his cost” with the claims, which were filed in federal court in New York in august.
Andrew replied with a New York Daily News article dated 2015, in which he claimed that Roberts had recruited young women to Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.
The article was based on former friends who described her as a sexy, money-hungry kitten who lived a lavish lifestyle.
Maxwell’s lawyers had also tried to prevent the public and media from her trial’s jury selection. They requested that prospective jurors be screened privately and individually.
Judge Nathan rejected the bid at a court hearing last month. He stated that the case’s factors ‘point strongly against deviations form standard practice’.
She also rejected Maxwell’s request that the jury questionnaire be kept sealed and said that she was ‘not persuaded” it could prejudice jurors.
These rulings are a setback for Maxwell and come weeks before her trial for allegedly procuring girls underage for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse.
New York federal court judges conduct screenings for jurors in open courts in groups of around 20 with defense and prosecutors asking questions.
Maxwell, however, wanted the process to be done privately due to the ‘tsunami of negative publicity’ over the case and the possibility of jurors being asked personal questions.
In an unusual departure from the norm, her lawyers also suggested that she would lead the process rather than the judge.
Judge Nathan stated during the hearing that she was ‘not going’ to allow jury questioning by attorneys.
She stated that the “factors point strongly against deviation form that standard practice” and that other judges in New York’s Southern District had handled other high-profile cases without difficulty.
Judge Nathan stated that she had conferred with Judge Ann Donnolly from the Eastern District in New York, a neighboring federal court district, who dealt’similar issues’ with sensitive questioning jurors.
R. Kelly was also accused of sexually abusing minor girls. Judge Donnolly presided over R. Kelly’s trial.
Judge Nathan stated that Covid-19 would result in some changes to the jury selection process.
The questionnaire would be distributed to potential jurors before the trial, and they would then be questioned in court by the judge one-on-one instead of as a group.
Judge Nathan stated that these measures would “protect the health and jurors, help preserve juror privacy, and help protect juror candor”, while also guaranteeing first amendment rights.
Bobbi Sternheim, Maxwell’s lawyer, argued that allowing the jury questionnaires to be made public prior to the trial would be similar to giving potential jurors a “take-home test” where they could find the answers before the trial.
Sternheim stated that she feared that some jurors would be’motivated for sitting on this jury’, suggesting they might be biased against Maxwell.
Judge Nathan stated she was unable to see what prejudice is and that her questioning of jurors will be ‘probing.
She stated that she was not persuaded that a juror has seen the questionnaire’s media report in advance and failed to disclose it is prejudiced. “If a juror is going lie and be dishonest, we will smoke that out.
British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother said her treatment inside a Brooklyn jail is a ‘human rights’ abuse that is ‘designed to break her’
Nathan directed that the questionnaire should be filed to the public Docket by the close of the week.
Sternheim requested that Sternheim change the wording of one question, which asked if jurors have ‘protested for any regulations concerning sextrafficking against minors or harassment’
Prosecutors also requested the removal of sketches of Epstein’s hearings in Manhattan federal court after his 2019 arrest. These sketches were hanging inside the building before the jury selection process began.
Sterhneim stated that it was “something we were going raise”, adding that the “pictures are in a corridor right next to the elevator.”
Judge Nathan stated: “We’ll get that down for certain.”
The clerk asked Maxwell if Maxwell was on the phone line from Brooklyn’s grim Metropolitan Detention Center before the hearing. Maxwell has been there since July last year.
Maxwell spoke in a nervous tone and said: “Yes, I’m, this Miss Maxwell and it is me.
The Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), Brooklyn, where Ghislaine Maxill, the alleged accomplice to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein is currently awaiting trial
The clerk experienced technical difficulties and asked Maxwell to hear her.
Maxwell said, “I beg your pardon. I cannot hear you.” I only vaguely hear you.
The clerk asked Maxwell if he was alone in the room. to which Maxwell replied: ‘I am alone in the room.’
Judge Nathan asked Maxwell if Maxwell was listening, and she replied: “Good afternoon, your honor.”
Defense attorneys claimed that potential jurors would not respond honestly in open court due to Maxwell’s sensitive case and the negative publicity surrounding Maxwell.
In court filings last week, Bobbi Sternheim stated that this case increases the likelihood jurors will be more anxious and constrained to answer openly and honestly during open court, within earshot of other jurors and members of the media.
“The negative publicity was so pervasive, vitriolic and extreme that Ms. Maxwell is being demonized in media.
Maxwell’s lawyers argued that private screening would prevent jurors from being influenced by or influence the answers given to them by other jurors, or fear embarrassment when giving honest responses.
Her legal team had requested that Maxwell’s victims be referred to in earlier filings as ‘accusers’ rather than ‘victims’.
They also requested that Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach house be exempted from all evidence.
Maxwell denies sex trafficking multiple girls in order to make money for Epstein, the disgraced late-pedophile who committed suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting his trial.
In court filings filed on October 19, her lawyers listed all of their objections to the jury being discussed.
They include details of a flight she took, ‘testimony about any alleged ‘rape’ by Jeffrey Epstein’ and ‘reference to the accusers as ‘victims’ or ‘minor victims’.’
The motion also asks for the judge’s exclusion of some of the hundreds exhibits that prosecutors wish to submit. However, it doesn’t specify why.
Meanwhile MaxwellFamily members have stood by her and launched a public campaign to help her reputation before her trial.
Ian Maxwell claims he hasn’t seen his sister since June 2019, when all his siblings (pictured below) came together to celebrate the 96th birthday of their father in London. He said that all his siblings support his sister and believe in her innocence.
In his first UK televised interview, Ian Maxwell, an older brother, spoke out Saturday against the ‘abuse he claims his sister has suffered behind bars.
Talk to Sky News, Ian said that he Ghislaine believes that Ghislaine was physically abused by prison guards and that her treatment in jail is a violation of her human rights that is ‘designed for her to break’.
He stated that he did not see Ghislaine giving a blackeye to herself. ‘I think she’s been subject to occasional physical abuse by her guards.
He also stated that his sister’s pre-trial releases applications have been denied repeatedly despite her having lost 15 pounds and being incarcerated making it more difficult for her to prepare a defense.
He said, “It’s meant to break her,” he continued. That is unjust. It is a fundamental violation of human rights. It’s quite shocking to me.
Maxwell was officially named by the women accused of her recruiting them as teenage girl friends for Epstein’s sexual abuse. This took place just over a month prior to the criminal trial.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre (the woman who has accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit) is not among the Maxwell trial complainants.
Maxwell has long denied all charges against her, and her attorneys claim she is being mistreated while in prison.
They released a picture of her with a black-eyed expression earlier in the year, and claimed she has not been able sleep in custody.
“We just want a fair chance, a fair chance so she can get ready to face the trial of her lifetime.
One of her attorneys said to the court, “It’s impossible for you to prepare for trial while you’re getting no sleep,” earlier this year. He begged for her to be released on bond so she could wait for the trial at her home.