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702 KB
Extraction Summary
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People
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Organizations
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Locations
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Events
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Relationships
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Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Legal document
File Size:
702 KB
Summary
This legal document, part of case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE, argues that a juror (Juror No. 50) in Ms. Maxwell's trial failed to disclose his own history as a victim of child abuse during jury selection. The filing asserts that this lack of candor was prejudicial to the defendant, as the defense would have immediately challenged the juror for cause had the truth been known. The document highlights that the Court had denied the defense's requests for more thorough questioning but had assured them it would identify dishonest jurors.
People (2)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Ms. Maxwell | Defendant |
The defendant in the case who sought to screen prospective jurors for backgrounds of abuse. Her requests to question ...
|
| Juror No. 50 | Juror |
A juror who allegedly failed to truthfully disclose his status as a victim of child sexual abuse during jury selection.
|
Organizations (1)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| The Court | government agency |
The judicial body that presided over the case, denied Ms. Maxwell's requests regarding juror questioning, and assured...
|
Timeline (2 events)
The trial for which jurors were being selected, where the central issue was the credibility of accusers in a sexual abuse case.
Relationships (2)
The document argues that Juror No. 50's failure to disclose his past as a victim of abuse was prejudicial to Ms. Maxwell's case and that her legal team would have immediately challenged him for cause had he been truthful.
The Court denied Ms. Maxwell's requests to have her lawyers directly question jurors or add questions to the questionnaire on the topic of prior abuse.
Key Quotes (3)
"I will individually, one-on-one, question[] the jurors, and with the parties present, I feel confident that I can discern any clear dishonesty. This is not just going to be a summary voir dire; it will be probing. . . . If a juror’s going to lie and be dishonest, we will smoke that out."Source
— The Court
(A statement from the judge during a hearing, assuring Ms. Maxwell that the court's questioning process would effectively identify untruthful potential jurors.)
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Quote #1
"were you the victim of a crime"Source
— The Court/Questionnaire
(A question posed to prospective jurors that Juror No. 50 allegedly failed to answer truthfully.)
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Quote #2
"Have you or a friend or family member [have] ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault? (This includes actual or attempted sexual assault or other unwanted sexual advance, including by a stranger, acquaintance, supervisor, teacher, or family member.)"Source
— The Court/Questionnaire
(A specific question asked during jury selection that the document claims Juror No. 50 did not answer truthfully regarding his own past.)
DOJ-OGR-00009199.jpg
Quote #3
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,102 characters)
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 616 Filed 02/24/22 Page 9 of 32
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This is a case where alleged child victims of sexual abuse delayed disclosure of their claimed abuse for many years. The central issue in the trial was the credibility of the accusers about those claims. Accordingly, it was important for Ms. Maxwell to screen prospective jurors and eliminate any juror with a background that would, consciously or unconsciously, make the juror more sympathetic to the accusers, dismiss challenges to the accusations as overly aggressive defense tactics, and credit the alleged victims’ stories because of abuse suffered by the juror as a child.
The Court denied Ms. Maxwell’s request to have her lawyers question prospective jurors on this topic, denied Ms. Maxwell’s request to include additional questions on the written questionnaire on this topic, but assured Ms. Maxwell that the Court would “smoke out” potential jurors who did not tell the truth:
I will individually, one-on-one, question[] the jurors, and with the parties present, I feel confident that I can discern any clear dishonesty. This is not just going to be a summary voir dire; it will be probing. . . . If a juror’s going to lie and be dishonest, we will smoke that out.
Tr. 10/21/21 Hrg. at 26:12.
Although given multiple opportunities to identify himself as a victim of child sexual abuse, Juror No. 50 failed to truthfully respond to very clear and pointed questions such as “were you the victim of a crime” and specifically, whether
Have you or a friend or family member [have] ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault? (This includes actual or attempted sexual assault or other unwanted sexual advance, including by a stranger, acquaintance, supervisor, teacher, or family member.)
Had Juror No. 50 truthfully disclosed his child-victim status he would have been immediately challenged for cause by Ms. Maxwell regardless of his answers to any other questions. In the unlikely event this challenge was denied, Juror No. 50 would have been questioned, in camera,
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