Ghislaine Maxwell is set to receive her sentence today and her attorney Bobbi Sternheim wants the sentence to be delayed due to Maxwell's mental condition and claims the former socialite has been placed on a suicide watch. According to the attorney, if Maxwell will continue to be on suicide watch and will be prohibited to review legal materials, then the adjournment should formally move to Monday.
Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney has been placed on suicide watch.
According to CNN, Maxwell, 60 will be sentenced today in Manhattan federal court after being found guilty on five of the six charges brought against her in late December. These charges include sex trafficking a minor.
Other charges that are related to the allegations are of abuse against young girls in conjunction with wealthy American financier Jeffrey Epstein
Now, Maxwell's attorney - Bobbi Sternheim - has revealed in a letter filed on Saturday that the former socialite has been removed from the general population at the Metropolitan Detention Center and placed in solitary confinement on suicide watch.
Sternheim also says that the decision to move his client was made without a psychological evaluation and "without justification".
In her letter, Sternheim writes that she met with Maxwell at the federal detention facility in Brooklyn yesterday and states that "she is not suicidal." Sternheim added that a psychologist evaluated Maxwell on Saturday morning and also determined that the former socialite is not suicidal.
Reuters says that Sternheim is fighting to have today's sentence delayed due to the fact that Maxwell is "unable to properly prepare, for sentencing".
Steinheim writes: "If Ms. Maxwell remains on suicide watch, is prohibited from reviewing legal materials prior to sentencing, becomes sleep deprived, and is denied sufficient time to meet with and confer with counsel, we will be formally moving on Monday for an adjournment."
In a letter to the judge overseeing Maxwell's case, Maxwell's lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, said her client is "unable to properly prepare, for sentencing," after officials at the Metropolitan Detention Center on Friday declared the suicide watch and abruptly moved Maxwell to solitary confinement.
According to CNN, Maxwell could have been placed on suicide watch as a result of her connections with Epstein.
Epstein came under investigation for the first time in 2005 after he was accused of several crimes against minors. Then in 2008, the socialite pleaded guilty to his charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution - this plea deal was later ruled to be illegal as a number of his victims weren’t consulted during the sentencing.
The man was arrested again in July 2019 and was found unresponsive on August 10.
He was prnounced dead at age 66 and his death was ruled as a suicide.
Accoridng to Reuters, prosecutors will be presenting the point that Maxwell should be sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison.