The U.S. Supreme Court nixed Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal against conviction on Monday, leaving her with only one other legal option outside of a pardon from President Donald Trump, an expert said.
Maxwell was convicted of crimes relating to her role in aiding Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with underage girls.
"This fight isn't over," said Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus on Monday. "Serious legal and factual issues remain, and we will continue to pursue every avenue available to ensure that justice is done."
Speaking to MSNBC after the decision to deny Maxwell's appeal was announced, former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Barbara McQuade noted that there's one legal option left.
"One of the things a defendant has available to them, even after they have exhausted all of their rights to appeal, is to file a habeas corpus petition alleging that their confinement is in violation of the Constitution in some way," said McQuade. "And, so, if you could say that someone's constitutional rights were deprived in some stage of the case."
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence. She was recently moved from a prison in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas that typically wouldn't accept sex offenders.
"I agree that this last grasp for legal challenge before the Supreme Court is the equivalent of a legal 'Hail Mary.' But, nonetheless, this is a civil process. A habeas process that could see collateral relief from courts if there is a constitutional violation that occurred in the process of the prosecution."
Maxwell argues that an plea agreement Epstein made when convicted in Florida stated that co-conspirators would not be prosecuted.
