Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers request retrial
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The FBI arrested Maxwell in 2020 following a disappearance from public life that saw her evade authorities for a year. She was indicted on July 2 that year with four charges tied to her “intimate relationship with Epstein” and two of perjury, to all of which she pleaded not guilty. Of those six, Maxwell was found guilty on five. But although she was convicted late last year, the legal process is not complete.
Where is Ghislaine Maxwell now?
Jurors delivered their final verdict after five days of deliberations on December 29, 2021.
Her time in court is not over yet, however, as she now awaits sentencing for her conviction last year and a second trial in the months to come.
Until then, authorities have remanded her to custody in the same prison she has inhabited since July 2020, the Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York.
The correctional facility holds male and female prisoners of all security types, primarily those serving shorter sentences or awaiting transfer.
Several other notable figures have also served time there while awaiting trial, including rapper R Kelly and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
Epstein was also a resident at the prison when he died by suicide in 2019.
Maxwell’s lawyers have described conditions at the facility as poor in legal filings.
They alleged she was underfed during her incarceration, losing hair and in “de facto solitary confinement”.
Her attorney Bobbi C Sternheim wrote in one letter that the MDC’s East Building – where she currently resides – is “permeated with mould and vermin” and that “cockroaches and rodents” were “plentiful”.
Maxwell is likely to be moved on to another facility following her sentencing but Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw the sex-trafficking trial, did not disclose when this would be.
Maxwell also faces another trial – this time for perjury – later this year.
Maxwell stands to receive a hefty sentence for her crimes, given the weight of her most severe guilty conviction.
In the US, sex-trafficking a minor carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, meaning she would spend the rest of her life in prison.
Experts believe her convictions could also earn her a place in a high-security facility.
Maxwell had recently attempted, unsuccessfully, to fight for a retrial following a failure by a juror to disclose prior sexual abuse.
Judge Nathan, stating the juror’s omission was “not deliberate”, upheld Maxwell’s conviction.
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