The disgraced British socialite was convicted on December 29 of intercourse trafficking and associated costs for aiding the late financier Jeffrey Epstein in his abuse of ladies – some as younger as 14. Maxwell insists on her innocence and nonetheless plans to attraction. Her attorneys on Wednesday offered detailed descriptions of her allegedly perilous situations in jail in a pre-sentencing report.
In a memorandum to Choose Alison Nathan, they made the surprising allegation that “an inmate in Ms Maxwell’s unit threatened to kill her, claiming that a further 20 years’ incarceration can be definitely worth the cash she’d obtain for murdering Ms Maxwell”.
They claimed: “One of many feminine inmates in Ms Maxwell’s housing unit advised no less than three different inmates that she had been supplied cash to homicide Ms Maxwell and that she deliberate to strangle her in her sleep.”
Maxwell “has successfully traded the stress of flashlight checks each quarter-hour in the midst of the night time whereas in isolation for the equal stress of getting to sleep with one eye open”, they stated.
The memorandum learn: “The incident displays the brutal actuality that there are quite a few jail inmates who wouldn’t hesitate to kill Ms Maxwell, whether or not for cash, fame or easy ‘avenue cred’.”
READ MORE: Ghislaine Maxwell ‘hated’ Princess Diana and ‘made her cry’
Maxwell’s attorneys added she must “stay with this risk . . . daily that she is incarcerated” wherever she is put behind bars as soon as sentenced.
The alleged harsh situations of Maxwell’s incarceration — corresponding to being checked each quarter-hour, even at night time — have been triggered by the scandal that adopted the dying of Epstein, who killed himself aged 66 whereas awaiting trial in a New York Metropolis federal jail in 2019.
He had been arrested by federal authorities in July 2019 on sex-trafficking counts.
Attorneys described Maxwell, 60, as somebody with “power, drive, dedication, a robust work ethic, and want to do good on the earth” of their submission and stated she ought to be sentenced to “nicely beneath” the 20 years imprisonment that probation authorities have really helpful.
They argued she will be able to’t be a surrogate for Epstein, arguing “this Court docket can not sentence Ms Maxwell as if she have been a proxy for Epstein just because Epstein is not right here”.
They wrote: “Ms Maxwell can not and mustn’t bear all of the punishment for which Epstein ought to have been held accountable.
“Ms Maxwell has already skilled a tough time throughout detention beneath situations much more onerous and punitive than any skilled by a typical pretrial detainee, and she or he is getting ready to spend considerably extra time behind bars.
“Her life has been ruined.”
“Ms Maxwell is just not a harmful felony or a routine offender.
“She is somebody who needs nothing greater than to stay a standard household life – one thing she was denied due to her affiliation with Epstein and can now nearly definitely by no means have.
“The general public doesn’t have to be shielded from Ms Maxwell and such concerns should not have any weight in figuring out her sentence.”
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Maxwell’s sentencing will happen practically three months after Choose Nathan rejected her request for a brand new trial following revelations {that a} juror in her case didn’t disclose childhood sexual abuse throughout jury choice.
Juror No 50, Scotty David, sat for interviews following the trial throughout which he opened up about experiencing childhood sexual abuse.
Mr David claimed he advised different jurors about this to ensure that them to grasp info from a sufferer’s perspective.
When questioned by the choose on March 8 about this omission, he claimed he was distracted whereas finishing the screening questionnaire.
Choose Nathan dominated she believed Mr David had made an “sincere mistake” and “that Juror 50 was not biased and wouldn’t have been stricken for trigger even when he had answered every query on the questionnaire precisely”.
Maxwell’s legal professionals urged the choose, to whom the sentence is finally up, to not be influenced by an “inexorable drumbeat of public condemnation calling for her to be locked away for good”.
They warned in opposition to any makes an attempt to “heal the injuries attributable to Epstein” by “heaping on Ms Maxwell’s shoulders the ache of each one in all his victims”.
Maxwell is scheduled to be sentenced on June 28 and faces as much as 55 years in jail.
