This courtroom sketch shows Ghislaine Maxwell (C) entering court followed by 2 US Marshalls, for her trial on charges of sex trafficking, in New York City, on December 2, 2021.
Jane Rosenberg | AFP | Getty Images
Jurors at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial ended their second day of deliberations Tuesday without reaching a verdict on charges accusing her of grooming several underage girls to be sexually abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein.
But the jury did send out several notes during what was their first full day of mulling the charges in Manhattan federal court.
Jurors asked to see transcripts of the testimony of three women who have accused Maxwell of facilitating their abuse, which they were allowed, and the FBI notes on an interview with one of the accusers in 2007, which they were denied.
The jury also asked whether they could consider the testimony of a second accuser as evidence that might support two counts of conspiracy that Maxwell faces.
Judge Alison Nathan informed jurors they could consider that testimony for that purpose.
Jurors will resume their deliberations Wednesday morning. Nathan told them it is possible they might deliberate on Thursday, two days before Christmas, if they cannot reach a verdict Wednesday.
The jury, comprised of six men and six women, began deliberating late Monday afternoon after hearing closing arguments and instructions from Nathan on the law, but went home for the day soon afterward.
Maxwell, 59, is charged with crimes related to her alleged recruiting years ago of the three girls for abuse by Epstein, the disgraced money manager who killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting his own trial on child sex trafficking charges.
“Ghislaine Maxwell was dangerous,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe said in closing arguments.
Moe called Maxwell a “sophisticated predator who knew exactly what she was doing.”
Maxwell did not take the witness stand at her trial, which began Nov. 29, telling Nathan that there was no need to do so because prosecutors had failed to prove their case against her after several weeks of evidence and testimony.
“Ghislaine Maxwell is an innocent woman, wrongfully accused of crimes she did not commit,” her attorney, Laura Menninger, told jurors Monday.
Maxwell has been held without bail since her arrest in July 2020.
