Release the Hounds: SCOTUS Rejects Ghislaine Maxwell Appeal

The game may now be afoot. 

Until now, the case of Ghislaine Maxwell continued to percolate in the justice system, but that has now come to an apparent conclusion. The Supreme Court denied her appeal on sex-trafficking charges in the Jeffrey Epstein ring, without comment. That brings to an end any hope of getting a new trial, unless and until Maxwell’s attorneys come up with a new argument for why the first trial would have been unfair:

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, brushing aside an argument from Ghislaine Maxwell that she should have been shielded from prosecution under a plea agreement that Epstein struck with federal authorities.

Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022 for carrying out a years-long scheme with Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. In her appeal at the Supreme Court, filed in April, Maxwell argues she should have been covered by a non-prosecution agreement Epstein secured as part of his agreement to plead guilty in Florida. …

The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Maxwell, finding that the agreement made with prosecutors in Florida did not bind the authorities in New York.

Is that the end of it? Will Maxwell spend the next 18 years or so in a federal prison, quietly atoning for her crimes? Her attorneys claim that they have more avenues to pursue:

“We’re, of course, deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s case,” Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said. “But this fight isn’t over. Serious legal and factual issues remain, and we will continue to pursue every avenue available to ensure that justice is done.”

There may be other grounds for appeal, but Maxwell’s attorneys must have thought this was their best avenue to get the conviction tossed out. They may well have other arguments, but when your client resides in federal prison, you choose the best route to get her out as soon as possible. This starts everything all over again, assuming that Maxwell has the money for more rounds of appeals on shakier and shakier grounds.

If not, though, perhaps she has other avenues to pursue. Until now, the prospect that Maxwell could get a new trial provided a major obstacle to the release of the transcripts of two Epstein-ring grand juries. It’s not the only obstacle; judges are usually loath to unseal grand jury deliberations in any circumstance. However, the release of these files and the yuuuuuge amount of publicity they will receive would all but end any hope of Maxwell getting a fair trial in the future, if her original conviction got overturned on appeal. 

Maxwell may have already begun playing for reconsideration without a new trial. This summer, she got a transfer to a lower-security prison in exchange for cooperating with Department of Justice investigators. With Epstein dead, it seems very unlikely that she’ll get any further consideration, but maybe Maxwell has more to add, or maybe the grand jury transcripts really will reveal information that shifts attention and responsibility to others. 

As long as her attorneys keep up the appeals, though, federal judges will have plenty of cover to keep those transcripts sealed. The Epstein case screams out for more accountability for the trafficking-ring participants, but that usually comes from trials rather than grand jury deliberations. If Maxwell drops all appeals, though, maybe the judges controlling those transcripts will have changes of heart — and maybe Maxwell will see that as her best move. About the only hope she has now is a commutation, and that’s a long shot at best. And even then, it won’t be forthcoming for at least another couple of years. 

Editor’s note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

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