SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 22 -- This could be the day,
Kurt was thinking as he came out onto Foley
Square on the second day of jury
deliberations in US v. Maxwell.
The lapse between thinking it on the
stairway up from the 4 train to Centre
Street, where a long line of people were
waiting, not socially distances, to get
tested for COVID / Omicron, and saying it on
Twitter video was less than a minute. The
first response? "Your video is sideways."
Damn landscape.
But
up in Courtroom 318 things were entirely
silent. Not only at 9 am, as it had been
yesterday until 10 when the first jury note
came back from the deliberations room, but
all the way to noon. Kurt took the chance to
run over to the Magistrates court.
The door as
unlocked and inside, Magistrate Judge Parker
was hearing jail-or-bail arguments about a
defendant named Romero, who'd shot a gun on
191st Street and St. Nicholas, as a felon no
less.
Romero's
lawyer emphasized that the mother of his
client's future child was here and there she
was, the only person in the gallery other
than Kurt (and a Court Security Officer on
his own chair by the door). When Judge
Parker summoned Pre-Trial Services out of
the room, presumably to a robing room she
shared seriatim with the other Magistrates,
Kurt ran back over to check on US v.
Maxwell. Still nothing. Had the jurors even
come in?
There
being no update to provide on Maxwell, back
in the Mag court the conclusion came. Judge
Parker ruled
that the government had met its burden and
the Romero would be detained. His lawyer had
said he was unvaccinated; Kurt watched how
he was led out, after short eye contact to
the gallery, to see if there were any
differences. Then back to the larger
difference: #MaximumMaxwell.
It
was nearly four o'clock when the lawyers
started assembling in Courtroom 318. It was
not initially a note from the jury, but
rather a note TO the jury. Judge Nathan
proposed to ask them to decide: would they
deliberate on December 23 or not?
But
then a note did come out, asking for the
testimony of house manager and dildo cleaner
Juan Alessi and of Kate (as well, strangely,
of Jane which they already had). As the
lawyers assured that they could agree on
this, faster than the three hours they'd
taken on Jane, Carolyn and Annie Farmer, the
jury's answer about deliberating tomorrow
came out.
No,
the jury said. Jurors have plans.
So
there would be a four day break, at least.
In those four days anything could happen:
one or more jurors could get COVID. It
seemed inevitable that they - one or more,
of course - would learn or hear about the
case, whether from the Internet on their
phones, or a relative at a loaded holiday
meal table.
Would the jurors be questioned on that when
they came back on Monday? Would Team Maxwell
now want a mistrial?
Kurt
did a podcast in the fire stairs, and put
his live tweeted thread into a story. Then
out into Foley Square, where again Isabel
Maxwell and Leah Saffian stood surrounded by
photographers, waiting for the Uber
seemingly stuck in the traffic created by
this circus.
Kurt took it all in, and put it all
out, and another
picked it up. It might be delayed a few days
but the news was getting out. #MaximumMaxwell.
And so it
continued. Click
here
for Patreon and more
(2d).
Note:
On October 29,
2021 and again on November 12
Ghislaine
Maxwell and
the US
Attorney's
Office for the
Southern
District of
New York filed
a flurry of
motions in
limine,
heavily
redacted; the
Government
argued that
trial exhibits
are not public
and will be
withheld.
Inner City
Press opposed
and opposes
the continued
secrecy.
Inner City Press
will cover the trial, and all
the comes before and after it;
#CourtCaseCast and song I,
Song
2, Song
3, fifth song
and now Nov
27 song
The underlying
case is US v. Maxwell,
20-cr-330 (Nathan).
***
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