The Ghislaine Maxwell Case Is Bringing the 'Runaway Jury' to Life
March 8, 2022 – Articles
Dinsmore litigation partner Lindsay Gerdes co-authored an editorial for NBC News regarding a juror's failure to disclose his history of sexual abuse prior to serving on the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. As a result, Gerdes argues that Maxwell deserves another trial. An excerpt is below.
The verdict is now irrevocably tainted. The juror’s conduct has turned what should have been a victory for justice on its head. On Tuesday, the court will hold an unusual hearing — the presiding judge will question the juror to determine whether he lied to her and, if so, whether the lies reveal bias that should have disqualified him from serving. As former federal prosecutors, we have opposed dozens of motions for new trials for various purported irregularities. But this one is different. Whatever the court concludes about the juror’s credibility and bias, there is only one just outcome: There must be a new trial.
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By his account, once he was on the panel he injected his abuse into the deliberations about ”predator” Maxwell, as he described her — sharing one story that apparently silenced the room — and helped return a guilty verdict on the most serious charges. Then, he turned to the media. He said he walked fellow jurors through his own experiences and purportedly helped them accept the recollections of the victims, who were testifying about abuse when they were minors.
Read the full article here.
