Palm Beach prosecutor painted Epstein victims as prostitutes, grand jury records show
Published in News & Features
She described for the jury how she was ushered into a large bedroom and instructed to strip down to her underwear. Alone in the room with Epstein, and confused about what was happening, she reluctantly complied. After he molested her, he gave her $200.
In front of the jury, Belohlavek asked the girl: “You’re aware that you committed a crime?”
“Now I am. I didn’t know it was a crime when I was doing it,” said the girl, who was 14 at the time. “Like, I — I don’t know. I guess it was prostitution or something like that.”
Belohlavek also asked the girls questions about their parents, and allowed members of the jury to make statements to the victims.
“Did you have any idea that deep inside of you that you — what you’re doing is wrong?” asked one juror.
“Yea, I did,” the girl replied.
“Oh do you?” the juror said, pointing out that the girl should have known better.
Asked another juror “Did it ever occur to you that he could have hacked you up?”
“Yes,” she stammered. “I thought about it a lot.”
Said the juror: “(You) should give it a little further thought.”
...continued
©2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Comments