Court Digest

New York
Prosecutors defend nightly sleep checks on Ghislaine Maxwell
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say Ghislaine Maxwell is not under suicide watch, but it’s still necessary to flashlight into her cell every 15 minutes as she sleeps while she awaits a sex trafficking trial.

They told a judge Wednesday that heightened security for Maxwell was necessary because of the nature of the charges she faces, the potential stress she faces in a high-profile criminal case and because of a need to ensure her safety in a cell where she is alone.

Maxwell’s lawyers say the light flashing is a response to ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein’s August 2019 suicide as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell, 59, has been held without bail since July on charges alleging she recruited teenage girls from 1994 to 2004 for Epstein to sexually abuse. She has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors based their letter on a consultation with lawyers for the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Maxwell is held, after a judge requested an explanation for the flashing of light at the ceiling of Maxwell’s cell every 15 minutes while she sleeps.

Two judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recommended the explanations be sought after recently rejecting an appeal of three rulings rejecting bail for Maxwell.

They also questioned why Maxwell was not allowed to wear a mask that would shield her eyes at night. Her lawyer told the 2nd Circuit that she puts socks or a towel over her eyes to try to sleep.

David Oscar Markus, an attorney who represents Maxwell before the 2nd Circuit, said in an email late Wednesday: “This is positively Orwellian. Prosecutors have parroted a nameless MDC official, who has determined that a detainee, who has not been deemed a suicide risk, must be awoken every 15 minutes for her own ‘well-being.’ What’s next? Bread and water diet to eliminate the risk of diabetes? Please!”

In their letter, prosecutors said Maxwell cannot be issued an eye mask because they are not available for purchase in the jail commissary and are thus considered contraband.

The  trial of Maxwell was postponed  this week from July until early fall, though no date has yet been set.

Maxwell’s lawyers have said a postponement of the trial was necessary after prosecutors in late March added sex trafficking charges  to the case. They also cited what they described as onerous jail conditions that slow Maxwell’s ability to prepare for trial.

Maxwell was arrested in July on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 1997. A superseding indictment in March added a fourth teenage girl to the allegations and extended the years of the alleged conspiracy to 2004.

Wisconsin
Astronomer’s trademark suit against American Doll resolved
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by a Chicago astronomer who alleged the Wisconsin-based maker of American Girl dolls stole her likeness and name to create an astronaut doll has been dismissed after the two sides resolved the case.

The federal trademark lawsuit filed last year by Lucianne Walkowicz asked American Girl and its parent company, Mattel, to stop selling the Luciana Vega doll, described as “an aspiring astronaut ready to take the next giant leap to Mars.”

A stipulation filed late Tuesday afternoon states that the suit has been addressed to the satisfaction of both sides and without any financial considerations. It contains no details about what’s contained in the settlement, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Walkowicz is a TED senior fellow at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. She spent much of her career with NASA and has lectured extensively on Mars exploration. She said in her suit that the similarities included the purple streak in the doll’s hair and her holographic shoes.

American Girl denied the allegations and said at the time it “takes great pride in creating original characters for girls.”

An attorney for Walkowicz and an American Girl spokeswoman did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Virginia
Court hears challenge to topless ban at Maryland beach
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A ban on bare-chested women at the beach in Ocean City, Maryland, violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection and should be overturned, advocates argued to a federal appeals court.

The Washington Post reports  that the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing a ruling last year that upheld Ocean City’s ordinance barring women, but not men, from going topless at the beach to protect “public sensibilities.”

During oral arguments Wednesday, Chief Judge Roger Gregory expressed skepticism about Ocean City’s rationale for the measure. Gregory asked how many calls town officials received complaining about the possibility of women going topless, and noted that the ordinance was passed after an inquiry to police about what would happen if women “expressed their freedom in this manner on the beach.”

Gregory said public sensibilities and legal standards have changed over time, citing Supreme Court decisions overturning laws that criminalized interracial marriage and sexual activity between same-sex adults.

“We’re not in the same Neanderthal-type environment,” Gregory said.

Ocean City’s attorney, Bruce Bright, said the ordinance is “not a regulation of sexual choices or behavior. This is a regulation of public nudity and whether it should still be defined as exposure of the female breast.”
Last April, U.S. District Judge James Bredar upheld the measure, saying in part that he was bound by past court rulings.

“Protecting the public sensibilities from the public display of areas of the body traditionally viewed as erogenous zones — including female, but not male, breasts — is an important government objective,” Bredar wrote.

The case began when five Maryland women sued the resort town over the 2017 law, saying it unfairly targets women in violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. The ordinance makes public nudity a municipal infraction punishable by a fine of $1,000.

Ocean City officials say the ordinance is necessary to maintain the town’s family-friendly character.

The lawsuit is one of several across the country challenging similar laws. In Colorado, the federal appeals court ruled against a Fort Collins ban and declared the city’s ordinance unconstitutional. The U.S.
Supreme Court refused last year to take up a challenge to a similar New Hampshire law in a case brought by three women fined for exposing their breasts in public.
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Arkansas
Josh Duggar granted release as he awaits child porn trial
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday allowed former reality TV star Josh Duggar to be released as he awaits trial on charges that he downloaded and possessed child pornography.

Magistrate Judge Christy Comstock ordered Duggar, 33, confined to the home of family friends who have agreed to be his custodian during his release and prohibited Duggar from any Internet-accessible devices pending his July 6 trial on the child pornography charges.

Duggar was indicted on the federal child pornography charges on Friday, a day after U.S. Marshals arrested him. He has pleaded not guilty.

“I have full confidence in the United States Marshal Service to find you if you decide not to comply with these conditions of release, so don’t make me regret this decision,” Comstock said after a four-hour hearing conducted over Zoom.

“You won’t, your honor, thank you very much,” responded Duggar.

Duggar starred on TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting” until it was pulled from the network in 2015 following revelations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter. Duggar’s parents said he had confessed to the fondling and apologized.

Duggar previously apologized for a pornography addiction and cheating on his wife.

Federal prosecutors cited Duggar’s admitted molestation as a sign that he was a danger to the community.

“He has shown the court he has a history dating back 20 years that shows a sexual attraction to children and the deviousness of his activity,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Carly Marshall said.

Comstock said that, during his release, Duggar could have contact with his children only with his wife present. But the judge said Duggar could not be around any other minors, including other family members.

Federal authorities said they began investigating after a Little Rock police detective found child pornography files were being shared by a computer investigators traced to Duggar. A federal Homeland Security agent testified pornographic images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, had been downloaded in May 2019 by a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.

Agent Gerald Faulkner said multiple child pornography files were found on the computer and that more than 200 images had been found on the computer that had been deleted.

Faulkner said the images downloaded were among “top five of the worst of the worst that I’ve ever had to examine.”

A monitoring program that sent reports to Duggar’s wife about his activity had been installed on the computer, but the images and videos were downloaded after software had been installed that allowed him to download them without being monitored, Faulkner said.

Duggar’s attorneys had argued that he wasn’t a danger to the community and has not tried to flee since authorities began their investigation two years ago.

“He has not left the jurisdiction, he has not left the country, he has not done anything at all other than continue to live his life in this judicial district where he has deep roots,” Justin Gelfand, an attorney for Duggar said.