![]() ![]() Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution. Palm Beach police, meanwhile, took their evidence to federal prosecutors, who threatened to bring charges until an agreement was reached in June 2008. They had agreed to give him massages while semi- or fully nude in exchange for money, but they said he would then molest them without their consent. They detailed the disagreements that surfaced beginning in 2005 among law enforcement officials after teenage girls and young women told Palm Beach police investigators that Epstein had sexually assaulted them. “The rule of secrecy, however, is not without exceptions.”įlorida’s treatment of Epstein came under scrutiny in 2018 following a series of Miami Herald articles. “There is a tradition in the United States, a tradition that is older than our Nation itself, that proceedings before a grand jury shall generally remain secret,” the appellate judges wrote, quoting a 1997 decision. There is a public interest in knowing whether the wealthy and politically connected Epstein, who lived in a Palm Beach mansion, was given special treatment, the court ruled. The court in Wednesday’s decision ordered Hafele to review the transcripts and to release those he deems would further justice, redacting the names of victims, witnesses and those who have not been criminally charged. ![]() The court cited a state law provision that says grand jury records can be made public if that is a “furtherance of justice.” Hafele had erred when he ruled he had no authority to release the normally secret transcripts of the 2006 Palm Beach County proceedings. (AP) – A Florida appeals court has opened the door for the possible release of transcripts of the grand jury investigation into notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein nearly 20 years ago that ended with prosecutors negotiating a plea deal that critics have called questionably lenient.įlorida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals unanimously agreed that Circuit Judge Donald W. ![]()
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