The jury in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial was sent home early Thursday morning after one of the lawyers became ill.
At around 10:30am, Judge Alison Nathan claimed that she had been informed that a lawyer “needs to get care” due to becoming ill.
The attorney was not identified.
Nathan informed the jury that the illness was not related to COVID-19:
“We have no reason to believe it is COVID-related.”
The trial had been moving along at a steady pace, and prosecuters were expected to rest their case this week.
Here's the latest on the trial from the New York Post:
Ghislaine Maxwell’s federal sex-trafficking trial was abruptly cut short Thursday morning after the judge said one of the attorneys in the case was sick.
Judge Alison Nathan adjourned the trial around 10:30 a.m., saying she had just been informed a lawyer was “ill” and “needs to get care.”
“We have no reason to believe it is COVID-related,” Nathan said before letting the jury go for the day.
The sick attorney was not identified.
“We urge you to respect the privacy of all parties to this litigation and not disclose the identity of that attorney,” said a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan.
The BBC has more:
A judge has put Ghislaine Maxwell's federal sex trafficking trial on hold for the day after a lawyer in the case fell ill and needed medical attention.
Judge Alison Nathan said the attorney in question was needed for direct examination of an upcoming witness: the fourth Maxwell accuser.
Ms Maxwell, 59, is facing charges over allegedly grooming girls for abuse by Jeffrey Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
This comes just after several photos were presented showing Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein appearing to have had a more intimant relationship than Maxwell's defense team would have anyone believe.
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