The Department of Justice has granted immunity to the juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial whose comments about his own history of sexual abuse appeared to contradict his statements at jury selection.
The decision paves the way for the juror, identified as Scotty David, to testify at a hearing about the alleged discrepancy later on Tuesday.
The development comes after a last-minute filing on Monday by the Manhattan federal prosecutors, in a bid to compel the juror to answer questions fully and under oath during Tuesday’s hearing.
The juror had indicated through his attorney Todd Spodek that he was going to invoke the 5th Amendment, to avoid self-incrimination.
British socialite Maxwell, the former partner of Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted by a US court in December of sex trafficking a minor and on four other counts for her role in facilitating sexual abuse of minor girls between 1994 to 2004 at the hands of Epstein.
Her sentencing is scheduled for June and she faces up to 65 years in jail.
Controversy surrounded the juror involved in Tuesday’s hearing after he conducted several post-trial media interviews in which he revealed that he drew on his own history of being sexually abused.
The juror allegedly failed to note this personal history on a questionnaire during the jury selection process. He also described how he persuaded some fellow jurors during deliberations that a victim’s memory of abuse does not imply the abuse did not happen.
Maxwell’s lawyers have argued that the failure to disclose his history, which he widely discussed in media interviews, was grounds for the convictions to be dismissed and a retrial to be ordered.
But the judge said the court could not do so without questioning the juror.
The juror had ticked “No” on the screening form in early November that asked: “Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?”
He also ticked no to the question which asked: “Have you, or any of your relatives or close friends, ever been a victim of a crime?”
In an interview with The Independent after the trial, Scotty David said sharing his experiences of sexual abuse had helped the jury believe that Maxwell’s victims were telling the truth. He later said that he was just rushing through the questions in the questionnaire and did not remember being asked that particular question.
Epstein died by suicide in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex-trafficking offences.
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