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The jury in British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s sexual abuse trial resumed deliberations on Wednesday, after the judge in the case warned of an increasing risk of a mistrial due to the rapid spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.
After a fourth full day of deliberations, US District Judge Alison Nathan said on Tuesday a positive Covid-19 case among jurors would “[put] at risk our ability to complete this trial”.
Ms Maxwell (60) is accused of recruiting and grooming four teenage girls to have sexual encounters with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
Jurors on Wednesday morning asked the judge for the transcripts of five witnesses’ testimony. That included Shawn, the first name of the ex-boyfriend of Carolyn, one of Maxwell’s four accusers. Shawn testified about driving Carolyn to Epstein’s Palm Beach, Florida estate when she was a teenager.
Jurors also asked the judge to clarify whether they should expect to deliberate over the new year holiday on Friday and Saturday of this week.
The judge on Tuesday told jurors they should plan to meet every day until they reach a verdict. Jurors had initially been scheduled to have Thursday and Friday off due to the holiday.
“We are very simply in a vastly different place regarding the pandemic,” the judge said, citing the “astronomical spike” in Covid-19 cases in the New York City area due to the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Epstein, who counted top business executives and politicians among his associates, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at age 66 while awaiting trial on sexual abuse charges.
Ms Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to six counts of sex trafficking and other crimes. Her attorneys have argued she is being scapegoated for Epstein’s behaviour since he is no longer alive. – Reuters