The prosecution in the trial of Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell rested its case Friday, a day after the trial was paused due to an attorney getting sick. The judge in the case told the jury it will return next Thursday to hear the defense’s case. Closing arguments could come as soon as Dec. 20.
Lawyers for Maxwell immediately moved for a judgment of acquittal after the prosecution rested Friday afternoon. The judge did not oblige.
Before the prosecution rested, the fourth and final Maxwell accuser got her chance to testify. Annie Farmer told jurors Maxwell and Epstein forced themselves on her when she was just 16.
“All these experiences made me feel like they had a very different interest in me,” Farmer testified Friday.
Farmer is the only of the four Maxwell accusers who testified under her true identity. Although Farmer was not identified by name in court documents, she has been outspoken in describing her experiences in various interviews. When Maxwell sought bail after she was arrested last July, Farmer asked the judge to deny it, calling Maxwell a “psychopath.”
On Friday, Farmer testified that she met Epstein at age 16 on a 1996 trip to New York City. She eventually accepted an invitation to Epstein’s New Mexico ranch. At the ranch, Farmer told the prosecution that Maxwell insisted on giving Farmer a massage and told her to take off her clothes. Maxwell then allegedly “pulled down the sheet and exposed my breasts and starting rubbing on my breasts.”
“It didn’t make sense to me that would happen,” Farmer said. “I so badly wanted to get off the table and have the massage be done.”
On cross examination, a defense lawyer repeatedly emphasized that Maxwell was not involved in the most egregious behavior described by Farmer. She also got Farmer to say she was not sure she was naked during her massage. Farmer did say she was certain that her breasts were exposed.
Getty Images
Straight Arrow News
Reuters
Getty Images