By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters). The British socialite Ghislaine MAXELL’s sex-abuse trial is set to resume on Wednesday. After the judge in the case warned about the increasing danger of a mistrial, the court was ordered to continue deliberations.

U.S. district judge Alison Nathan declared Tuesday, after four days of full deliberations that any positive COVID-19 case from jurors could “put at risk our ability (to complete the trial).”

Maxwell (60) is charged with recruiting and grooming four teenage women to sexual encounters between 1994-2004 with Jeffrey Epstein, a late financier.

Nathan instructed jurors that they must meet on every day until they reach a decision. The New Year holiday had originally meant that jurors would be granted Thursday and Friday leave.

Nathan suggested the possibility of having deliberations over the weekend, if needed.

Nathan explained that the situation is “very simply a very different one regarding the pandemic,” citing an “astronomical spike in COVID-19 case in New York City” due to Omicron’s highly contagious variant.

Epstein, who was among the top business leaders and politicians in his circle, committed suicide in Manhattan’s jail cell at 66 years old while awaiting trial for sex abuse allegations.

Maxwell pleaded guilty to six charges of sextrafficking and other criminal offenses. Epstein is dead, so her attorneys claim she’s being made a scapegoat for Maxwell’s actions.

Jurors began deliberating on Dec. 20. The jury sent Nathan a Tuesday note in which it stated that its deliberations are “moving along.” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-is-known-so-far-about-deliberations-ghislaine-maxwells-sex-abuse-trial-2021-12-22

Nathan read the note aloud to Nathan in court.

Nathan has never had to replace one of the twelve jurors. In the event that one or more jurors were incapacitated, Nathan would be required to summon at least one alternate juror and then deliberations could resume.