Maxwell trial resumes Friday morning after daylong pause

NEW YORK (AP) — The sex-abuse trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was to resume Friday morning after a daylong pause induced by a sick attorney.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan had said Thursday that an attorney was “ill and has to get care,” but there was no reason to believe the illness was related to the coronavirus. The attorney was back in court on Friday, when the last of the four accusers central to the prosecution’s case is expected to testify.

Before the trial was abruptly adjourned Thursday, jurors did hear from a witness who verified that Epstein sent overnight packages to women in December 2002.

The case against Maxwell revolves around four women who say they were teens when the British socialite recruited them and helped Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse them.

Maxwell, 59, has denied charges that she groomed girls as young as 14 to give Epstein sexual massages at his residences in Florida, New York, New Mexico and elsewhere. Her lawyers have contended she’s been made a scapegoat for sex crimes committed by Epstein, who killed himself in jail while awaiting trial in 2019.

Maxwell has been jailed since she was arrested in New Hampshire in July of the following year.

The expected testimony from the last accuser would cap the trial’s second week. It’s unclear whether the government will finish presenting its case Friday, as expected. Nathan suggested that closing arguments in the trial — originally thought to span six weeks — might occur as soon as Dec. 20 if the defense presentation next week only lasts a day or two.