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The Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Begins

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Highlights from the trial of Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. On day one, the defense previewed its strategy of undermining the women who accused her of facilitating abuse.
The actual courtroom in which the Ghislaine Maxwell trial began today in lower Manhattan is simple, a bit dowdy, and uncrowded. It includes the notable COVID-era addition of two plexiglass–and–HEPA-filtered boxes: one for the lawyer currently speaking and one for the person testifying. The box for witnesses, to the left of the judge, is creepy even when empty. Its slightly shiny surface carries a reflection; the masked faces of the people in the courtroom are mirrored back in black and white, stacked in rows, like a little snippet of the famous ballroom photo from the Overlook Hotel. It’s an eerie effect. After some last-minute drama around final jury selection, the trial began with lawyers occupying the plexiglass container. Both the prosecution’s and defense’s opening statement came off like one of those moments that you rehearse again and again and then, live, it all comes off flat and amateur. Most surprising was how many ways Maxwell’s lawyer Bobbi Sternheim called the women who accused her client of facilitating abuse some version of gold-digging, money-hungry adventuress.

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