Ghislaine Maxwell jury confronts rare case alleging female sexual predator

Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial is set to kick off as one of the biggest of the #MeToo era. But the jury selected Monday may have to grapple with a unique question: is Maxwell herself a victim?
 

“Most criminal defendants are men in these these sorts of sexual predator cases,” said Moira Penza, a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York. “This case is unusual because we have a female defendant.”

Whether some people might be more or less sympathetic to Maxwell, 59, as a woman has hung over the jury selection process. The 12 jurors and six alternates will be picked Monday in Manhattan federal court, with opening statements to begin soon after in a trial expected to last into January.