The Ghislaine Maxwell juror accused of failing to disclose an incident of child sex abuse before taking part in her trial has admitted to doing so but insisted it was an “honest mistake”.
The man, who previously identified himself to the media as Scotty David but was referred to only as Juror 50 in court, testified before a judge on Tuesday that he did not intentionally hide his history of abuse when asked about it in a pre-trial jury selection questionnaire.
Instead, the juror said he made an “inadvertent mistake” when he answered “No” to a question about whether he or anyone close to him had been a victim of sexual abuse.
“This is one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made in my life,” he told the court under harsh questioning by Judge Alison Nathan.
He testified that he had been abused by a stepbrother and the stepbrother’s friend when he was nine and 10 years old but did not view himself as a “victim”.
He said that looking back on the screening question, however, he should have answered “yes” to whether or not he had been abused.
“I flew through this questionnaire,” the juror explained. “At this point, I was super-distracted. There was a lot of talking going on [...] and so I just start going through. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.”
He repeatedly denied having answered incorrectly in order to land on the final jury and said he didn’t think he would be selected anyway.
“This is a terrible excuse, but I really didn’t think I’d be chosen,” he said.
Lawyers for Maxwell, who is awaiting sentencing after being convicted in December for aiding disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in his abuse of underage girls, had called for a retrial following revelations about the juror’s childhood incident.
They argue that his history of abuse could have influenced his decision to convict the former British socialite of sex trafficking and other charges, as well as influence other jurors.
In media interviews after the trial – including one with The Independent – the juror described persuading some fellow jurors that an imperfect memory of abuse did not mean the victim was giving a false statement.
Asked why he told reporters about his past sex abuse and not the court before Maxwell’s trial, he said her victims inspired him to speak publicly. “I saw the victims on the stand and I said: ‘I can do that too,’” he said. “I felt if they could be brave enough, then so can I.”
Judge Nathan put pressure on Scotty David after he claimed in his explanation of the questionnaire error: “I don’t really think about my sexual abuse, period. I don’t tell many people.”
The judge suggested that statement is inconsistent with the remarks he gave to media outlets following the verdict.
He replied by reiterating he didn’t think he would get on the jury. “I only used my sexual abuse to talk to a reporter about jury deliberations”, he said. “I didn’t know this would happen. If I lied deliberately, I wouldn’t have told a soul. It was an honest mistake.”
He was also asked about his social media post thanking Annie Farmer, one of Maxwell’s victims who testified at the socialite’s trial, for sharing an article about him.
Ms Farmer had tweeted The Independent’s interview with the juror, writing: “Reading this I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude – for this juror who was brave enough to disclose his own trauma to help others understand the experience, the other women who testified, my sister and all the other survivors who kept pushing for justice.”
Mr David acknowledged his post in response and said he thanked her “for forwarding the articles”.
“I have like two followers. I just randomly saw it,” he said. “I thanked her for sharing [her story] as well.”
Asked about how he felt after learning that he’d made a mistake on his questionnaire, Scotty David said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed”.
“I was like: ‘Did I just mess something up?’” he recalled.
The defence and prosecution are slated to submit arguments for how Mr David’s testimony should affect Maxwell’s bid for a retrial on 15 March.
Judge Nathan will then decide to either order a retrial or continue to sentencing for Maxwell, who faces up to 65 years in prison after her December conviction on five sex trafficking charges.
Prior to Tuesday’s hearing, the Department of Justice granted Mr David immunity from prosecution over his testimony after he indicated that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
