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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 388 _ Filed 10/29/21 Page11of14
157). By contrast, the Second Circuit found that the government’s evidence in A/-Sadawi was
“too attenuated” to establish that the defendant intended to flee to avoid prosecution or
apprehension and the government should not have been permitted to argue consciousness of guilt
on the basis of that evidence. /d.
Here, the purported “flight” evidence is even more attenuated than in Al-Sadawi. Like
Al-Sadawi, Ms. Maxwell knew she was a subject of the government’s investigation after the
arrest of Jeffery Epstein and could have left the country at any point in the one-year period
leading up to her arrest (nine-and-a-half months longer than Al-Sadawi). But she did not.
Unlike A/l-Sadawi, there is no evidence whatsoever that Ms. Maxwell was preparing to flee.
Neither Ms. Maxwell nor her spouse had purchased a plane ticket, nor was Ms. Maxwell
planning to move locations. On the contrary, Ms. Maxwell had been living in the same residence
in New Hampshire for seven months — a location she chose because it was close to her family
and close to the prosecutors in New York in case she needed to meet with them. Moreover,
when Ms. Maxwell was arrested, the arresting agents found nothing suggesting that she planned
to abscond. Finally, unlike A/-Sadawi, Ms. Maxwell proffered independent evidence supporting
an alternative explanation for her actions that rebuts any inference that she intended to flee.
Hence, if it was improper for the trial court to allow the introduction of flight evidence in
Al-Sadawi, it would be even more improper for the Court to do so here. See id.; see also
Sanchez, 790 F.2d at 252-53 (precluding evidence that defendant failed to appear at the initial
date and a continuance date scheduled for his own trial); United States v. Green, No. 12-Cr-83S,
2017 WL 4803957, at *4-*5 (W.D.N.Y. Oct. 25, 2017) (precluding evidence that defendant
jumped from a third-floor window after being arrested and interviewed by the police); United
States v. Glenn, 312 F.3d 58, 67-68 (2d Cir. 2002) (evidence that defendant flagged down a car
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Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00005698.jpg |
| File Size | 730.3 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.2% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,144 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:02:28.882075 |