Posted on 12/16/2021 7:55:43 PM PST by bitt
Photos displayed during Ms. Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial show her in an apparently happy relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, her notorious former companion.
Follow our live coverage of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
The images could have come from the scrapbook of any relatively affluent couple: a graying man and slightly younger woman in casual, unrehearsed moments — standing on a wooden footbridge, astride a motorcycle, at a table with a drink.
What sets them apart are the people they depict: Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in a federal jail cell in 2019 while he was being held on sex-trafficking charges, and Ghislaine Maxwell, his onetime girlfriend, who is currently being tried on sex-trafficking and other charges in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
More than a dozen of the photographs were displayed last week during Ms. Maxwell’s trial, showing the carefree surface of a relationship that, according to witness testimony, masked much darker depths. They were introduced by the government over defense objections, as prosecutors sought to document, through the images, Ms. Maxwell’s longstanding relationship with Mr. Epstein.
Now, as the defense prepares to present its case when the trial resumes on Thursday, lawyers for Ms. Maxwell will attempt to convince jurors that the woman in the pictures is little more than a scapegoat for Mr. Epstein, one of the most notorious sex offenders in recent American history. Ms. Maxwell’s lawyers have not said publicly who they will call to testify, but said they will put on a case that is expected to last no more than four days. In court filings, they suggested that they want to present at least one expert witness to counter testimony from an expert called by the government who described a process known as “grooming” that is used by
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in a federal jail cell,” is as accurate as claiming Brandon won in 2020.
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