Judge approves Ghislaine Maxwell's request for Covid-19 booster as she awaits sentencing in 'hell hole' prison
Source: Daily Mail
Date: 1/3/2022
A judge has approved Ghislaine Maxwell's request for a Covid-19 booster shot after she was found guilty of sex trafficking charges last week.
Attorney Bobbi Sternheim asked Judge Alison Nathan if it was possible for her client - who is facing 65 years behind bars - to get the vaccine as she awaits sentencing in jail.
Judge Nathan said it was 'available' at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she is being held and where Maxwell has described as a 'hell hole'.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is facing 65 years in jail after a jury found her guilty last week, requested to get the shot after the verdict was read
Judge Nathan said the booster shot was 'available' at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she is being held, and that she would 'look into it'
The court has been advised that Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) is making booster shots available within a week of receiving a request from an inmate.
Maxwell's defense team is advised to follow the MDC's instructions for requesting a booster.
If a request is made and a booster not provided, Maxwell's lawyers may make a further application to the court.
The parties are also ordered to submit a joint letter by January 10, 2022, proposing a schedule for sentencing.
The joint letter should also propose a schedule for the perjury counts.
Maxwell is facing up to 65 years behind bars after jurors declared her a child sex predator.
The long prison sentence faced by Maxwell gives her ample motivation to 'flip' and discuss the actions of others within Epstein's circle. Epstein himself took his own life in jail in New York in August 2019 while awaiting trial.
His victims have been calling for others Epstein associated with to be held account, and have pointed out that the disgraced pedophile financier, who died aged 66, counted a plethora of famous faces among his friends.
On Wednesday, Maxwell's lawyer Bobbi Sternheim asked Judge Alison Nathan if it was possible for Maxwell to get her booster shot to protect her from Covid-19
Ghislaine Maxwell guilty in Epstein sexual abuse case
Her family lawyer, Leah Saffian, who has been a regular in the courtroom sat with her relatives, was spotted by The Miami Herald on Tuesday beckoning over James Hill, a producer for ABC News, to introduce him to Maxwell.
Maxwell smiled and appeared to introduce herself to Hill and was heard to say that she was willing to speak to the media, the newspaper reported - before a US Marshal told the journalist to return to his seat.
The 60-year-old's legal team are also already working on an appeal – but the guilty verdicts will intensify the pressure on Maxwell's friend Prince Andrew to speak to US prosecutors about his time with Epstein.
The jury took just over 40 hours to find Maxwell guilty on five of six charges. One of the charges she was guilty of related to Andrew's own accuser Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre, suggesting jurors may have believed she was a sex trafficking victim too. She is suing the duke for alleged rape, which he strenuously denies.
Giuffre said she had 'lived with the horrors of Maxwell's abuse' and commended the four women who testified against Maxwell. And Lisa Bloom, a lawyer for some of Epstein's accusers, said she expected Maxwell to spend the rest of her life behind bars, adding: 'She has been lucky to have 60 years of freedom, it is far too much.'
Among those suggesting Maxwell could now 'sing like a canary' to get a reduced sentence was Piers Morgan, who warned that many powerful figures might become anxious if she decides to expose accomplices of Epstein.
Maxwell's siblings Kevin, Christine and Isabel walked out of court in New York after the vedict and declined to speak to reporters. In a statement, Maxwell's family said she would be 'ultimately vindicated' despite the jury convicting her of five of the six charges
The prosecution brought in pictures found in Epstein's mansion in a bid to show that Maxwell and Epstein had been in a relationship
He tweeted: 'Will vile sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell now sing like a canary to avoid spending the rest of her life in prison? If she does, there could be a lot of rich, powerful & famous people sweating tonight... and not sweating.'
And Walt Disney's great niece and filmmaker Abigail Disney said in a tweet: 'Ghislaine, if you want any redemption at all, I hope you will give up some names, because those fu**ers should not be able to hide any longer.'
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greeney, a Donald Trump ally, added: 'Jeffrey Epstein's entire network should be made public and his fortune should go to his victims.' And fellow Republican Representative Lauren Boebert said the public 'deserves to know every single person involved in the Epstein sex trafficking network'.
Maxwell was convicted after six days of deliberation by a jury of six men and six women. They found her guilty on five of six counts - all except enticing an individual aged under 17 to travel with intent to engage in illegal sex acts.
Maxwell's siblings leave court after Ghislaine found guilty