Jurors in Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking trial will have to deliberate over New Year's weekend if they can't reach a verdict, judge says

• The judge in Ghislaine Maxwell's trial told jurors to sit every day until a verdict is reached.
• Judge Alison Nathan said the measures were to avoid a mistrial in case of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The judge overseeing Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking trial told jurors on Wednesday that she wanted them to sit every day until they reached a verdict, even if that meant the jury must sit through the weekend and on New Year's Day.

US District Judge Alison Nathan explained her reasoning while hearing arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys on Tuesday afternoon. She said the "astronomical spike" in coronavirus cases in New York put Maxwell's case at risk of a mistrial if a juror fell ill.

"Put simply, I conclude that proceeding this way is the best chance to both give the jury as much time as they need and to avoid a mistrial as a result of the Omicron variant," Nathan said.

Nathan has sought to give jurors more time to meet as they've continued deliberating Maxwell's case, where she faces six complicated counts related to sex-trafficking girls and sexually abusing some of them. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The courthouse, in downtown Manhattan, was originally scheduled to be closed on Thursday and Friday for New Year's before Nathan said she wanted the jurors to continue meeting. On Monday, Nathan asked jurors to stay until 6 p.m. every day.

But jurors rejected the request on Tuesday and asked to continue meeting until only 5 p.m., which the judge accepted. Maxwell had also asked jurors if they wanted to keep deliberating on Thursday last week, even though the court was scheduled to be closed, but they rejected that request, too.

Wednesday marks the fifth full day of jury deliberation for the trial. They began in the late afternoon on December 21, after a marathon day of closing arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys, as well as jury instructions.

The jurors said in a note on Tuesday afternoon that they were "making progress," but they made no indication that they were near the end of their deliberations.

On Wednesday morning, they requested transcripts for the testimony of five witnesses in the trial, including Elizabeth Loftus, an academic and expert witness for Maxwell's defense who told jurors about the fallibility of memory.

Prosecutors have accused Maxwell of trafficking girls with Jeffrey Epstein and of sexually abusing them herself. The allegations in the indictment focus on activity between 1997 and 2004, and they concern misconduct against four accusers, who were as young as 14 at the time.

The closing arguments concluded three weeks of testimony, with just two days for the defense — far shorter than the six weeks the attorneys originally anticipated.

Here's a rundown of the charges, including what jurors would need to agree on in order to convict or acquit Maxwell on each count.

You can read Nathan's complete instructions for jurors here.