Ghislaine Maxwell will file papers Tuesday appealing her conviction in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal — and we’re told her lawyer will argue that she was held in solitary confinement in the Brooklyn Detention Center “under inhumane conditions” during her trial.
The court papers are expected to argue that Maxwell was subjected to “sleep deprivation,” we hear, and could not get proper access to her legal counsel to prep for her blockbuster trial.
Maxwell’s team will also argue that she was subject to “malnourishment” and “living with vermin in her cell,” along with “overall deplorable conditions.”
Her lawyer, Arthur L. Aidala, said in a statement on Tuesday, “By the time of trial, she was so disoriented and diminished that she was unable meaningfully to assist in her own defense, much less to testify.”
Page Six exclusively reported last month that Aidala told us Maxwell “was so mistreated during her period of incarceration that it violated so many of her constitutional rights to defend herself.”
“She was malnourished. And yet she’s supposed to sit for a trial [with her] life on the line … In the United States of America, anyone who’s accused of any crime should not be abused by the US government the way she was abused,” Aidala explained.
“She did not get a fair trial … the judge ignored the many claims of malnourishment, living with vermin in her cell, lack of sleep, and overall deplorable conditions,” he continued.
“There were also issues regarding lack of access to her lawyers. This is all in violation of her fundamental constitutional rights and will be powerfully brought to the attention of the appellate courts.”
The appeal to be filed Tuesday with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is also expected to argue that other mistakes were made in the case — including a controversy during Maxwell’s trial when one juror told the judge that he’d failed to disclose his own history of child abuse during jury selection.
Aidala will also argue, per his statement on Tuesday, that the government was “barred by a five-year statute of limitations from bringing the charges,” and also “breached a non-prosecution agreement that immunized Maxwell for these offenses.”
The judge in the case, United States Circuit Judge Alison J. Nathan, previously shot down Maxwell’s request for a new trial, and she was convicted on five of six counts, including sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. She was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Maxwell was given 240 months in prison “for her role in a scheme to sexual exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade,” prosecutors said after her sentencing.
US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement at the time: “Today’s sentence holds Ghislaine Maxwell accountable for perpetrating heinous crimes against children. This sentence sends a strong message that no one is above the law and it is never too late for justice.”
Aidala has also been representing Harvey Weinstein in the disgraced movie mogul’s appeal. Aidala previously said of coming aboard the Maxwell case, “After her sentencing … her trial team was done representing her and her family quite frankly reached out to us. Obviously we’d been in the headlines with Mr. Weinstein’s case.”