Translated From: Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction stands…
Discovered on: 2022-04-30 06:36:17
Ghislaine Maxwell’s motion to vacate her December 2021 sex trafficking charges for her role in helping convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein sexually abuse underage girls has been denied by a US appeals court judge. this week.
In December, the 60-year-old British socialite was convicted on federal sex trafficking charges. Judge Alison Nathan on Friday denied Maxwell’s request for acquittal, however, three of the five charges will be combined for a new sentence.
Maxwell’s attorney argued that three of his charges, related to conspiracy to traffic or transport minors for sexual purposes, covered the same crime and asked that the charges be dismissed.
A federal appeals judge denied Ghislaine Maxwell’s request for acquittal, but agreed to combine three of her previous conspiracy charges into one for sentencing. Above, Maxwell attends the WIE Symposium in New York City on September 20, 2013.
Paul Zimmerman/WireImage
Maxwell was convicted of five federal charges: sex trafficking of a minor, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three related counts of conspiracy.
Nathan agreed that the three conspiracy charges were similar, but did not acquit Maxwell. Instead, the judge combined the crimes into one, meaning Maxwell will be sentenced on three counts instead of five.
“The overall conspiracy, which, as the government argued and proved at trial, employed a single ‘playbook’ to groom and sexually abuse underage girls, constitutes a single crime conspiracy with multiple victims. Because the Dual Criminal Clause prohibits the court from imposing multiple punishments for the same crime, the court will sentence only the third count among the conspiracy charges,” Nathan wrote in Friday’s 45-page ruling.
Mitch Epner, a former sex trafficking prosecutor, told Law and Crime that he doesn’t expect the ruling to alter Maxwell’s sentencing guidelines.
“The dismissal of these two charges will not make any difference in the calculation of Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing guidelines, and is highly unlikely to make any difference to the actual sentence that is imposed,” Epner said, according to Law and Crime.
Maxwell’s attorneys also made an earlier request to vacate his conviction in a separate motion because one of the jurors failed to disclose that he had been sexually abused as a child, which could influence their opinion.
Maxwell’s attorney argued that the jury would have been removed from the panel if they had known of his past. However, the judge decided that Maxwell received a fair trial despite the jury’s error.
“Juror 50’s sworn testimony at the hearing made it apparent that he did not knowingly lie in completing the questionnaire, but instead made an honest mistake,” the court documents state. “And in any event, if juror 50 had accurately reported in his questionnaire that he had been a victim of sexual abuse, he would not have been beaten for cause.”
Maxwell’s sentencing is scheduled for June 28, 2022.
Newsweek contacted Maxwell’s attorneys.
Originally posted 2022-04-30 17:25:08.
