Maxwell jury asks for more transcripts, deliberations break for Christmas

For the second day in a row, the jury in the sex trafficking trial of alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell asked to review transcripts from trial testimony Wednesday. Tuesday’s request was for the testimony of three of Maxwell’s accusers: Annie Farmer, the only one of the four who testified under her own identity, as well as two women who testified anonymously as “Jane” and “Carolyn.” Wednesday’s request was for transcripts from testimony of the fourth Maxwell accuser, who testified anonymously as “Kate”. The jury also wanted to look at the testimony of Juan Alessi, the former house manager at Epstein’s Palm Beach, Florida estate.

The jury request came about six hours into deliberations Wednesday. Wednesday is the second full day of deliberations in the Maxwell trial. On Tuesday, the jury asked to finish deliberating at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, indicating that a verdict was not imminent.

Once deliberations wrapped up Wednesday, Nathan dismissed the jury for the long Christmas weekend. He urged jurors to be cautious amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in New York City.

“Please stay safe over the long weekend,” Nathan said. “Obviously we’ve got the variant and I need all of you here and healthy on Monday.”

Kate testified that she met Maxwell at age 17. Maxwell allegedly told Kate that Epstein was a philanthropist who could help her with her singing career. Kate testified that she then had several sexual encounters with Epstein. Nathan instructed the jury that Kate was above the age of consent at the time, so she was not the victim of any crime, but they could consider her testimony if they found it useful in evaluating the charges against Maxwell.