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701 KB
Extraction Summary
2
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:
701 KB
Summary
This legal document, filed on March 11, 2022, argues that the defendant, Ms. Maxwell, was denied a fair trial because a juror, Juror No. 50, failed to disclose his history as a victim of child abuse during jury selection. The filing contends that despite the Court's assurances that it would identify dishonest jurors, Juror No. 50 did not truthfully answer direct questions on the topic, and his inclusion on the jury was prejudicial to the defense. Had the juror been truthful, the defense would have immediately challenged him for cause.
People (2)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Ms. Maxwell | Defendant |
The defendant in a trial involving alleged sexual abuse, who sought to screen jurors for potential bias.
|
| Juror No. 50 | Juror |
A juror who allegedly failed to disclose his history as a victim of child sexual abuse during jury selection.
|
Organizations (1)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| The Court | Government agency |
The judicial body presiding over Ms. Maxwell's trial, which denied her requests for specific juror questioning but as...
|
Timeline (2 events)
The process of screening prospective jurors for Ms. Maxwell's trial, during which Juror No. 50 allegedly failed to truthfully answer questions.
Court
Relationships (1)
The document alleges that Juror No. 50's failure to disclose his past as a victim of abuse was prejudicial to Ms. Maxwell's case and that she would have challenged his inclusion on the jury had he been truthful.
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 made during a hearing on 10/21/21, assuring Ms. Maxwell that the court's questioning process would identify untruthful jurors.)
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Quote #1
"were you the victim of a crime"Source
— Juror Questionnaire
(A question posed to prospective jurors, which 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
— Juror Questionnaire
(A specific question on the juror questionnaire that Juror No. 50 allegedly failed to answer truthfully.)
DOJ-OGR-00009878.jpg
Quote #3
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,104 characters)
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 644 Filed 03/11/22 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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DOJ-OGR-00009878
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