The trial for Ghislaine Maxwell, associate to the late Jeffrey Epstein, was postponed on Monday until the fall.
Judge Alison Nathan determined the defense needs more time to prepare after a superseding indictment was filed in late March, adding charges of sex trafficking to allegations that Maxwell, 59, recruited underage girls to be abused by Epstein.
Maxwell, who is being held without bail at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center, has maintained her innocence and was set to stand trial in July.
Nathan, who is a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, cited the defense’s ability to review the new evidence, their preparations for any pretrial motions based on it, and coronavirus-related delays to investigations as reasons for her decision.
“The Court is very mindful of the countervailing considerations that require that any adjournment be no longer than necessary,” Nathan said, adding, “The Court deems an adjournment until fall 2021 to be reasonable. Such an adjournment would plainly give the defense team sufficient time to prepare for trial in light of the additional charges contained in the S2 indictment while also ensuring that the trial proceeds without undue delay. No additional delay is necessary or in the interests of justice.”
Maxwell’s legal team requested that the trial be delayed until the fall of 2021 or January 2022, according to the judge. Prosecutors did not want a delay in the trial but requested that if one was granted, that it take place in March 2022.
“The longer this case remains pending, the longer the victims suffer the anxiety of anticipating their trial testimony and the uncertainty of awaiting a resolution,” the prosecution said in a brief, according to Law & Crime. “As a result, multiple victims oppose any adjournment of the trial date.”
The new indictment accuses Maxwell of grooming a 14-year-old and paying her to engage in sexual acts on multiple occasions with Epstein between 2001 and 2004.
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When Maxwell was originally arrested in July, she was charged with transporting a minor for the purposes of criminal sexual activity and conspiring to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts. The July charges did not include sex trafficking.
Epstein, who was arrested in July 2019, was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy for allegedly abusing girls as young as 14, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell that August in what the New York City medical examiner determined to be a suicide.
Nathan ordered the two sides in the Maxwell trial to confer and to propose a trial start date by May 10.
