The Department of Justice has formally requested immunity for the juror at the center of the controversy surrounding the jury selection process for Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial, paving the way for him to testify at an upcoming Tuesday hearing, according to court documents filed late Monday. Juror 50, identified as Scotty David, his first and middle names, would have otherwise invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination,” his lawyer said last week. The last-minute filing on Monday followed a request by Manhattan federal prosecutors to compel David to answer questions under oath at the March 8 hearing about his apparent failure to disclose in a juror questionnaire that he is a survivor of sexual abuse. David’s role in Maxwell’s guilty verdict in December first came into question shortly after the trial, when he claimed in media interviews that explaining his own experience with sexual abuse had helped to sway fellow jurors in the deliberations room. Maxwell’s lawyers requested a new trial in January. Last Wednesday, The New York Times reported that U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’ office was seeking the Department of Justice’s approval for the order to compel David to testify, which Monday’s filing states they obtained.
