NEW YORK — A juror who helped convict Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking in December after failing to disclose childhood sexual abuse on his juror questionnaire testified in Manhattan federal court Tuesday that he had rushed through the form and never thought he'd be seated on the jury.
Juror 50, a 35-year-old Manhattan resident, called the incident"one of the biggest mistakes of my life" -- yet also told the judge Tuesday that his prior abuse in no way impacted his judgment of the evidence in the case.
After Juror 50's lawyer said in a letter last week that his client intended to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at the hearing, the government on Monday night filed an application for an immunity order to compel the juror to testify with granted immunity. At the hearing, Judge Nathan explained that the juror would be granted immunity with the exclusion of any untruthful statements under oath, which would constitute perjury.
"I would have put I was abused as a child," he said when asked how he'd reply to a follow-up inquiry on the questionnaire had he answered accurately. He said that he was abused multiple times by"a family member who is no longer part of the family, and one of his friends, when I was 9 and 10 years old." He said the person was his former stepbrother, and that he did not disclose the abuse to anyone until he told his mother in high school.
"I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the [color] of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video," he said in an interview with the Independent."But I can't remember all the details, there are some things that run together." Following Tuesday's hearing, an attorney for Juror 50 said"no comment" when asked for a response by ABC News.