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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document657_ Filed 04/29/22 Page 29 of 45
alter the fact that the evidence and instructions at trial captured the core of criminality of the
Indictment.
The jury note at issue read:
Under Count Four (4), if the defendant aided in the transportation of Jane’s return flight,
but not the flight to New Mexico where/if the intent was for Jane to engage in sexual
activity, can she be found guilty under the second element?
Court Ex. 15, Dkt. No. 593 at 23. After hearing from the parties, the Court determined that it
was unclear to what testimony the note referred and what legal question the note asked.
Accordingly, the Court concluded that the appropriate course was to refer the jury back to the
instruction for the second element of Count Four, with a reminder to consider carefully the full
instruction. Trial Tr. at 3141. The Court also rejected the Defendant’s supplemental instruction
proposed the following day because it was partially unresponsive, partially redundant, and
partially an erroneous statement of law. /d. at 3148-50.
The Defendant’s contention that this series of events worked a constructive amendment
to the Indictment is without merit. First, the Defendant speculates extensively about which
flights and evidence the jury was referencing in the note, hazarding that the jury was focused on
a 1997 flight from New York to New Mexico and an unidentified return flight to Florida. See
Maxwell Br. at 14-15. But Jane testified about taking numerous flights both on Epstein’s private
plane and on commercial carriers. The note did not specify which of these many flights or other
testimony the jury was considering. The Court could not provide supplemental instruction based
on such a speculative foundation.
Second, the note was not “crystal clear” as the Defendant contends. Maxwell Reply at 6.
Rather, as sometimes occurs, the note was decidedly ambiguous as to the precise legal question
being asked. For example, the jury could have been asking about aiding-and-abetting liability as
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| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00010395.jpg |
| File Size | 699.4 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.2% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,062 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:58:22.582727 |