The 12-member panel has now discussed parts of five days – about 32 hours – and plans to resume Wednesday morning.
On Monday night, Judge Alison Nathan asked jurors to plan to stay at least 6 p.m. onward, an hour later than their usual departure time.
“We are very simply in a different place with regard to the pandemic than we were just a week ago, and we are now facing a heightened and escalating risk that jurors and/or participants trial participants may need to be isolated, thus disrupting the trial (and) jeopardizing their ability to complete this trial,” she said.
But the jurors sent a note saying they were in a good place to stop for the day and that they wanted to finish by 5pm.
“Our discussions are ongoing and we are making progress,” the note also said, according to Nathan.
The judge told lawyers outside of the jury’s presence that if no verdict is reached by Wednesday, she will tell jurors to clear their schedules for deliberation at the end of the day. New Year’s holiday week.
“Simply put, I conclude that proceeding this way is the best chance to give the whole jury as much time as they need and avoid a mistake due to the Omicron variant,” the judge said.
Judges must be present for deliberation every day unless they are in significant difficulty because of an irrevocable commitment, the judge told the panel before dismissing them for the day.
If convicted of all six counts, Maxwell faces 70 years in prison.
On Monday, the jury asked for the definition of “sedition,” as part of two of the charges, and sent the judge a question about the travel-related allegation against one of the defendants. accuser.
What happened at the trial
The prosecution called 24 witnesses over 10 days to testify. Their case relied heavily on four women with personal stories of her alleged role in facilitating Epstein’s abuse.
“A single middle-aged man who invited a teenage girl to visit his ranch, come to his house and fly to New York, was terrifying,” prosecutor Alison Moe said in the conclusion. “But when that man is accompanied by a classy, smiley, respectable, age-appropriate woman, that’s when things start to seem legit.
“And when that woman encourages those girls to massage that man, when she acts like it’s perfectly normal for a man to touch those girls, that lures them in.” a trap. It allows the man to turn off the alarm.”
In the final argument, attorney Laura Menninger sought to separate Maxwell from Epstein, alleging that he had also manipulated her. She said the prosecutor’s case was based on speculation and distracting photos of Maxwell with Epstein, including some showing her giving him a foot massage.
“She’s being tried here for being with Jeffrey Epstein, and that’s probably the biggest mistake of her life – but it’s not a crime,” Menninger told the jury.
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