Ghislaine Maxwell is appealing her case after a judge sentenced her to 20 years in prison for sex-trafficking girls with Jeffrey Epstein

• Ghislaine Maxwell is appealing her guilty verdict and 20-year prison sentence.
• A judge sentenced her in June after a jury found her guilty of trafficking girls with Jeffrey Epstein.
• Her lawyers say she wasn't able to prepare her case and that at least one juror should have never been seated.

Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell asked an appeals court to throw out her guilty verdict and the 20-year sentence given to her for sex-trafficking girls with Jeffrey Epstein.

On Thursday, her attorney Bobbi C. Sternheim filed the notice of appeal with the federal court in Manhattan where Maxwell was tried and sentenced. The full text of the appeal was not immediately available since it had not yet been processed in the 2nd Circuit US Court of Appeals, which will review her case.

US District Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw Maxwell's criminal trial, sentenced her in late June to 20 years in prison, plus five years of supervised release and an array of fines. Maxwell will not have to pay restitution to her victims because they already received money from the Epstein Victims' Compensation Program.

"A sophisticated adult woman, she provided an initial veneer of responsibility and even safety. She befriended and developed relationships of trust," Nathan said at Maxwell's sentencing. "She then manipulated the victims and normalized sexual abuse through her involvement, encouragement, and instruction."

Nathan herself was confirmed to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in March. Nominated for the promotion by President Joe Biden, she attended hearings with the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC, in the middle of Maxwell's trial, held in November and December.

Maxwell's attorneys and family members have long said they would appeal the verdict against her. In court, Maxwell said she was unfairly singled out by prosecutors because Epstein himself died in jail while awaiting trial in 2019. Sternheim argued during the sentencing hearing that, while in jail, Maxwell didn't have sufficient resources to prepare for trial. Sternheim also told reporters that day that a fair trial was impossible given the overwhelmingly negative media attention in the case.

"Ghislaine Maxwell has been vilified and pilloried, and it left little room for her to be treated fairly," Sternheim said. "Because even before she stepped forward into this courthouse, she was being tried and convicted in the court of public opinion."

During the sentencing hearing, Nathan said Maxwell actually had more access to legal resources than most inmates do in the famously troubled Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she was held.

"Ms. Maxwell's treatment at MDC was overall as good as or better than that of the typical pretrial detainee at the MDC during the pandemic," Nathan said. "I also reject the repeated allegations that Ms. Maxwell, who was provided extensive access to computers and legal materials, as well as to highly involved counsel, was in any way not able to prepare for trial or sentencing."

Maxwell's attorneys previously sought to get her guilty verdict tossed due to one juror, who identified himself publicly with his first and last name, Scotty David.

Juror 50, as he was known in court proceedings, failed to disclose in his juror questionnaire that he was personally the victim of sexual abuse as a child.

In a highly unusual hearing in March, Nathan questioned the juror. She later ruled that he made an honest mistake when he "flew through" the questionnaire and that the situation didn't meet the legal standards for holding a new trial.

Maxwell's attorneys indicated they would appeal that ruling as well. Juror 50 attended the sentencing personally, using the service of an expensive line-sitter to ensure he could make it into the courtroom.