No matter which way the Ghislaine Maxwell child-sex abuse trial swings, what will likely happen to the charges is a breach of trust between the parents and the child.
That would be a massive blunder. But if that’s the choice, what gives Maxwell a chance to get off free?
Many will not believe the outcome. The keystone of any trial is truth. Have the alleged victims of Maxwell lied?
To protect themselves, court artists may depict Ms. Maxwell as a young girl of petite stature — with her hair brushed straight across her forehead and eyes closed in a small blue dress that captures the child-like innocence common to girls of her age.
‘How is it going to happen in court??’ Ms. Maxwell, with lawyer Billy Martin, responds to the identity of her alleged victims.
But her real face is a woman who will likely enter a courtroom at a guilty verdict, with her head lowered, looking as if she’s suffering and as if her fate is locked in her hands.
The most reliable outcome is no outcome.
Dawn Jarvis is a Senior Fellow with the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs. She’s also the founding founder of the Office of Problem Solving for Children in California.