Crime

Jurors Bragged To Media And Now Ghislaine Maxwell Verdict Hangs In The Balance

Pay attention to your questionnaires!

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Jury Deliberates In Ghislaine Maxwell Trial

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Serving on a jury is the most actual power most people ever get in this country. And with John Roberts waging a scorched earth campaign against basic voting rights, juries may soon be the only place citizens can make a difference. Of course, with great power comes great desire to brag about how much power you have.

A juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial decided to speak to multiple outlets about the experience and probably succeeded in getting the whole trial thrown out. The juror, identified by his first and middle names as Scotty David, explained that he’d been sexually abused and said that he felt his story helped convince skeptical jurors to believe the accusers:

The jury room went dead silent when he shared his story, he told The Independent.

David believes this helped the jury understand that it’s possible that these women were telling the truth.

Oh no. And then a second juror talked about it:

In another potential complication, a second juror described in an interview with The New York Times having been sexually abused as a child. This juror, who requested anonymity, said that they, too, had discussed the experience during deliberations and that the revelation had appeared to help shape the jury’s discussions.

Whether these jurors actually changed the course of deliberations or not — and I’m skeptical that they had as much influence as they want to think — isn’t really the point. The juror questionnaire included a question that asked if jurors or their family members had ever experienced sexual abuse and the defense was nuking jurors who answered “yes” as potentially biased.

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That said, several potential jurors who had, seemingly, answered “yes” made it to the second round of screening so it’s not conclusive that they incorrectly answered the first questionnaire. Neither of these jurors were asked about abuse at that time.

Scotty has said that he didn’t remember that question being asked, but says he would have answered truthfully had he seen it. That the questionnaire was lengthy enough that jurors might have breezed over a question like that is a symptom of trying to over-engineer the jury by asking far too many questions, but I digress.

All of this lands back on Judge Allison Nathan’s plate, as Maxwell’s team asks for a new trial based on these revelations.

But at least we know! Juries operate confidentially by design, and bias can go unchecked without jurors choosing to come forward. Defendants deserve the benefit of every doubt, and while it’s hard to imagine a new jury coming to a different conclusion, we’re likely going to have to go through this whole trial again.

Ghislaine Maxwell to seek new trial after juror’s sexual abuse claim -lawyer [Reuters]
Ghislaine Maxwell juror breaks silence to The Independent: ‘This verdict is for all the victims’ [The Independent]
Maxwell Verdict Is Clouded After Juror’s Disclosure of Past Sexual Abuse [New York Times]

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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