Jurors in Ms. Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial have given no indication of their progress toward a verdict. Deliberations are to resume on Monday.
The jurors in the Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial were sent home by the judge on Wednesday after a second full day of deliberating without reaching a verdict. The jury’s departure followed a quiet day in the Manhattan courtroom where the trial is being held. Defense lawyers and prosecutors largely stayed away while reporters, sketch artists and court security officers wandered in and out. It was not until about 3:45 p.m. that the jury sent its first note of the day to the judge, Alison J. Nathan, requesting that copies of testimony by two of Ms. Maxwell’s accusers and a third government witness be provided to them in a binder. The jury’s nearly daylong silence was impossible to read, but Ms. Maxwell’s lawyers, and the defendant herself, seemed chipper as they entered court in the late afternoon to hear from the judge. Two of Ms. Maxwell’s lawyers gave each other a high-five. Received wisdom in courthouses is that quick decisions from juries are typically guilty verdicts, with longer deliberations signaling confusion, a lack of consensus or a complicated split decision. But when there are few notes from a jury, attempts to divine its leanings are often futile, and the jury in Ms. Maxwell’s case must analyze three weeks of complex testimony and evaluate six separate charges. The jurors have given no indication that there is any disagreement among them. Judge Nathan gave the jury the option of deliberating on Thursday, even though the courthouse would technically be closed for the holiday break.
