Ever since disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell from an apparent suicide, his case has been mired in conspiracy theories.
This was partially due to his high-profile connections, but also due to questionable conditions and apparently unusable security camera footage from outside his cell.
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So with this context in mind, the idea of dismissing the sex trafficking cases that landed him in jail in the first place might seem suspicious on their own. However, this dismissal wasn’t the unusual part of the federal judge’s handling of the case.
As we look at this case, it’s worth noting that “unusual” should not necessarily be conflated with “bad.”
This afternoon saw New York U.S. District Judge Richard Berman formally close the criminal case against 66-year-old Jeffrey Epstein.
As The Daily Mail reported , this decision followed a long period of requests from prosecutors to end the sex trafficking case that began ever since he was found dead in a Manhattan federal jail.
This is because dismissing criminal cases against deceased persons is generally considered a formality.
What made Epstein’s case different from others like this, however, was that Judge Berman held an open hearing before formally closing it.
This meant that 23 of his alleged victims and their lawyers were given an opportunity to speak before the court about the decades of abuse they had experienced.
One of these speakers, Courtney Wild, said that his suicide robbed a victims of a chance to confront him one by one in court. “For that, ” she said, “he is a coward.”
Although this was an unconventional move, it seemed to confirm key legal aspects of Epstein’s case.
Namely, that neither the grand jury investigation into his death nor any civil cases against his estate by his alleged victims would be affected by the dismissal of his criminal case.
Again, such a dismissal is considered a formality.
Both US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman and members of the FBI met with the women involved and thanked them for sharing their stories.
They also took that opportunity to emphasize that although they had reached the end of Epstein’s case, criminal investigations into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators would remain ongoing.
h/t: The Daily Mail
