Maxwell, 60, was convicted by a jury in December on five federal charges, including sexually abusing a minor, after a month-long trial in which jurors heard testimony about her relationship with the late Epstein. Prosecutors say during the trial against Maxwell that she helped set up a scheme to lure young girls into sexual relations between 1994 and 2004. Epstein was found dead in federal custody shortly after he was accused of allegedly leading a sexual group. trafficking in underage girls, and Maxwell was arrested the following year.
“But this court cannot convict Ms. Maxwell as if she were Epstein’s attorney, simply because Epstein is no longer here,” Maxwell’s lawyer said in his recommendation for the verdict. “Mrs. Maxwell cannot and must not bear the full punishment for which Epstein should have been responsible.”
Prosecutors are expected to make a recommendation for the verdict by June 22, and Maxwell is due to be convicted on June 28. The probation department recommended a 20-year sentence lower than the sentence instructions.
CNN asked prosecutors for comment on Maxwell’s recommendation for the sentence.
In Maxwell’s request for a lighter sentence on Wednesday, her lawyers said it would be a “parody of justice” if Maxwell faced a sentence suitable for Epstein. She was recommended to face between 4.25 and 5.25 years in prison.
While the jury convicted Maxwell of five counts, she will be convicted of only three, after the judge presiding over her case agreed that two of the conspiracy charges she was facing were repeated.
“Ms. Maxwell has already experienced difficult times during her detention in conditions far more severe and punitive than anyone experienced by a typical detainee in court, and is preparing to spend significantly more time behind bars,” Maxwell’s lawyers wrote. “Her life is ruined. After Epstein’s death, her life is in danger and death threats continue while she is in prison.”
Citing a “difficult, traumatic childhood” with a powerful father, Maxwell’s lawyers said she was “vulnerable” to Epstein and that meeting him was “the biggest mistake she made in her life.” Maxwell’s lawyers say she has not been accused of “anything unfavorable” in the 15 years since her relationship with Epstein ended.
Maxwell was detained after her arrest in July 2020, and her lawyers say her imprisonment was a “disproportionate pre-sentence sentence” that will not end now that she is housed with the entire population. Her lawyers say she was most recently threatened by a prisoner in her ward who claims he told her that an additional 20 years in prison would be worth the money he would receive for Maxwell’s murder.
Her lawyers also claim that she has been the target of numerous beatings a day, claiming that she was “touched in a sexually inappropriate way by correctional officers” several times.
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