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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document672 Filed 06/24/22 Page4of68 LAW OFFICES OF BOBBI C. STERNHEIA\ The concept of “direct and proximate harm,” as used in the CVRA, is not limitless and only covers victims of the conduct underlying the offenses of conviction. See United States v. Daly, No. 3:11-cr-121 (AWT), 2012 WL 315409, at *5-*6 (D. Conn. Feb. 1, 2012) (“[T]he determination as to whether person has the rights of a ‘crime victim’ for purposes the CVRA is made with reference to the conduct underlying the charged offense.”) (emphasis added). While individuals claiming to have been victims of sexual abuse may qualify generically as victims, all sex crimes are not federal offenses and, as such, would be confer rights under the CVRA. Accordingly, for the Individuals to be considered "victims," they must have been minors and "directly and proximately" been harmed by the "commission" of the “federal crimes” for which Ms. Maxwell has been convicted. Here, no such showing can be made for the Individuals. The alleged abuse and injuries were not caused by Ms. Maxwell’s offenses of conviction: the Individuals were not minors at the time of the federal offenses and their allegations are too factually and temporally attenuated to the commission of the federal offenses. As the Court instructed the jury, the age of the victim was an essential element for each offense. The Individuals were not minors and are unable to demonstrate that their alleged abuse and injuries were a consequence of the charged offenses against minors. Because The Individuals Are Not "Crime Victims" Under the CVRA, They Should Be Precluded from Being Heard at Sentencing The right to be heard at sentencing applies only to persons who are statutory “crime victims” of the offenses of conviction. The CVRA provides that where a person is a “crime victim,” as defined in that statute, she has the right to be reasonably heard at sentencing. 18 U.S.C. § 3771(a)(4), § 3771 (e) (defining “crime victim”). While the sentencing court has discretionary authority to receive information from a wider range of affected individuals under 18 U.S.C. § 3661, only those holding statutory crime victim status have rights of DOJ-OGR-00010595