NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say Ghislaine Maxwell will not be below suicide watch, nevertheless it’s nonetheless essential to flash mild into her cell each quarter-hour as she sleeps whereas she awaits a intercourse trafficking trial.
They advised a choose Wednesday that heightened safety for Maxwell was essential due to the character of the fees she faces, the potential stress she faces in a high-profile legal case and due to a necessity to make sure her security in a cell the place she is alone.
Maxwell’s legal professionals say the sunshine flashing is a response to ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein’s August 2019 suicide as he awaited trial on intercourse trafficking expenses.
Maxwell, 59, has been held with out bail since July on expenses alleging she recruited teenage ladies from 1994 to 2004 for Epstein to sexually abuse. She has pleaded not responsible.
Prosecutors primarily based their letter on a session with legal professionals for the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn, the place Maxwell is held, after a choose requested an evidence for the flashing of sunshine on the ceiling of Maxwell’s cell each quarter-hour whereas she sleeps.
Two judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals advisable the reasons be wanted not too long ago rejecting an enchantment of three rulings rejecting bail for Maxwell.
In addition they questioned why Maxwell was not allowed to put on a masks that will protect her eyes at evening. Her lawyer advised the 2nd Circuit that she places socks or a towel over her eyes to attempt to sleep.
Maxwell’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Of their letter, prosecutors mentioned Maxwell can’t be issued an eye fixed masks as a result of they don’t seem to be obtainable for buy within the jail commissary and are thus thought of contraband.
The trial of Maxwell was postponed this week from July till early fall, although no date has but been set.
Maxwell’s legal professionals have mentioned a postponement of the trial was essential after prosecutors in late March added intercourse trafficking expenses to the case. In addition they cited what they described as onerous jail situations that gradual Maxwell’s capacity to organize for trial.
Maxwell was arrested in July on expenses that she recruited three teenage ladies for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 1997. A superseding indictment in March added a fourth teenage woman to the allegations and prolonged the years of the alleged conspiracy to 2004.
