US3 min(s) read
Published 11:59 14 Nov 2021 GMT
Ghislaine Maxwell blew kisses to her family as she appeared in court for jury selection ahead of a trial on charges of grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, 59, is accused of helping arrange for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse underage girls as young as 14, which she denies.
The former socialite appeared wearing a blue prison tunic, baggy trousers, and black mask, but without the shackles worn in previous appearances.
She used reading glasses as she took notes during the hearing. At one point, Maxwell blew a kiss to her sister who was sitting in court.
Maxwell this week lost her bid to exclude a psychologist who has studied the "grooming" of sexual crimes victims from testifying at her upcoming trial.
Prosecutors have said they may call Lisa Rocchio, a psychologist who specializes in treating patients who have suffered sexual abuse, as a witness at the trial.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges that she groomed underage girls for the late financier Epstein to abuse.
It comes as the former socialite was denied bail for the sixth time as she awaits her trial for charges of sex trafficking, The Times reports.
The decision to keep her behind bars was made amid claims by her legal team that she is being treated like "Hannibal Lecter", the fictional cannibalistic serial killer from the movie Silence of the Lambs.
According to the paper, Maxwell's lawyer David Oscar Markus told the court earlier on in the year: "Though she is a model prisoner who poses no danger to society and has done literally nothing to prompt 'special' treatment, she is kept in isolation."
Markus continued: "Conditions fitting for Hannibal Lecter but not a 59-year-old woman who poses no threat to anyone. She is subjected to multiple invasive searches every day. Her every movement is captured on multiple video cameras. She is deprived of any real sleep by having a flashlight pointed into her cell every 15 minutes."
In response to the claims of poor treatment, District Judge Alison Nathan has promised in a recent ruling that the 59-year-old would be taken from her jail cell to her trial "in a way that is humane, proper, and consistent with security protocols".
It was previously reported by Reuters that the reason she has repeatedly been denied bail is due to concerns that she might flee and refuse to cooperate with authorities.
Epstein committed suicide by hanging in his jail cell in August 2019 as he awaited, also without the chance of bail, his trial on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell's trial is set to begin on November 29.
