NEW YORK (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell asked a federal judge on Wednesday to set aside her sex trafficking conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence, saying “substantial new evidence” has emerged proving that constitutional violations spoiled her trial.
Maxwell maintained in a habeas petition she has promised to file since August that information that would have resulted in her exoneration at her 2021 trial was withheld and false testimony was presented to the jury.
She said the cumulative effect of the constitutional violations resulted in a “complete miscarriage of justice.”
“Since the conclusion of her trial, substantial new evidence has emerged from related civil actions, Government disclosures, investigative reports, and documents demonstrating constitutional violations that undermined the fairness of her proceeding,” the filing in Manhattan federal court said. “In the light of the full evidentiary record, no reasonable juror would have convicted her.”
The filing came just two days before records in her case were scheduled to be released publicly as a result of President Donald Trump’s signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The law, signed after months of public and political pressure, requires the Justice Department to provide the public with Epstein-related records by Dec. 19.
Thank you! I had an idea it was going to be something like that, but did not have enough knowledge of the law to narrow it further.
As far as I know David Markus is still representing her in related criminal matters; he specifically referred to her as his client in his letter to the judge (NYT article, para 10) when referencing the DoJ request to unseal grand jury materials, making note of her pro se position solely in regard to filing the habeas petition.
She has other attorneys as well: her personal attorney Leah Saffian; Melissa Madrigal, who represented her at the DoJ interview conducted by Todd Blanche; and of course she has the cash to hire anyone else she wants.
So to me it was always a strategy decision and not one made of necessity. Really appreciate you taking the time to explain.