https://mobile.twitter.com/GeorgeMNasif/status/1217912820496355328
Government Apologizes to Epstein Victims But Defends Immunity for His Aides
MIAMI (CN) – In the 11th Circuit, government prosecutors at long last uttered the word “sorry” in open court to victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex ring, after years of refusing to apologize for keeping them in the dark about a deal that protected the wealthy money manager from federal charges.
The apology was issued during a Thursday morning appellate proceeding in Miami attended by Courtney Wild, who says Epstein sexually abused her at his mansion when she was 14 years old. She and her lawyers were in court to challenge a federal judge’s decision to preserve the 2007 deal, which gave Epstein and his assistants immunity from federal sex-crime charges in South Florida.
“The government should have communicated to Ms. Wild in a straightforward [way] . . . . We are genuinely sorry,” assistant U.S. attorney Jill Steinberg said, apologizing for her predecessors’ mistreatment of victims.
Wild’s longtime lawyer Bradley Edwards said outside the courthouse that while Wild welcomes the government’s repentance, she wants more concrete relief. Citing the government’s admitted violations of the Crime Victims Rights Act, Edwards said that the “clear remedy is to rescind the non-prosecution agreement.”
The government told the appellate panel that the Crime Victims Rights Act provides a means for disenfranchised victims to challenge plea bargains, not non-prosecution agreements like Epstein’s. Steinberg claimed that because federal prosecutors never filed a formal charging document, the act’s rescission remedies do not apply.
Moar here:
https://www.courthousenews.com/government-apologizes-to-epstein-victims-but-defends-immunity-for-his-aides