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Jury signals verdict not near at Ghislaine Maxwell trial

Ghislaine Maxwell trial
Posted at 3:35 PM, Dec 27, 2021
and last updated 2021-12-27 16:35:00-05

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury has signaled that it's settled into deliberations at the sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell with a request for a whiteboard and different colored sticky notes.

The jury deliberated over an hour Monday before making the request.

It also asked for some trial testimony and the definition of enticement.

The jury resumed deliberations after a holiday weekend break following two full days of talks last week.

The British socialite is charged with grooming teenagers as young as 14 to be sexually assaulted by financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell's lawyers say she's a scapegoat after Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting a sex trafficking trial.

The Associated Press reported that the jury heard the testimony of four women during the trial about how when they were teens they were alleged victims of a sex-abuse scheme devised by Maxwell and Epstein.

During closing arguments, the prosecution said Maxwell is a dangerous predator who helped Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

Maxwell's defense lawyer said she is an innocent woman wrongfully accused of crimes she did not commit.

She faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted.

On Saturday, Maxwell turned 60, the news outlet reported.