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investigation in 2007 (see Dkt. 199 at 1-2), long before commencing this prosecution against Ms. Maxwell. We cannot adequately prepare for a trial containing the new charges and a substantially expanded conspiracy in the less than three months remaining.
Government Opposition to a Continuance Is Unreasonable
The government implies that the assumptions underlying the July 12 trial date are irrelevant because it represented, as it always does, that its investigation was "ongoing." But "ongoing investigation" does not imply superseding the indictment to enlarge the originally charged conspiracy from four to eleven years and adding two new distinct charges based on distinct alleged conduct that purportedly took place outside the time period of the original charges. This is not a situation where the government's "ongoing investigation" has yielded, for example, a new overt act to an existing conspiracy. The government has effectively added a brand new case on top of the existing case. This is a significant expansion of the case against Ms. Maxwell that requires considerable time for the defense to investigate and prepare. Indeed, by its own admission, the government needed more than two months after its January 2020 interview of Accuser-4 to properly investigate her allegations and obtain the second superseding indictment. Yet, the government confidently contends that the defense will not need any additional time to prepare to defend against this revised prosecution. The government's double-standard approach is simply wrong. The defense is entitled to conduct a meaningful defense investigation and must have adequate time to do so.
The government's recent production of 3500 material for non-testifying witnesses underscores the significant amount of time that the defense will need to investigate. On April 13, 2021, in a highly unusual, if not unprecedented disclosure, the government produced over 20,000 pages of interview notes, reports and other materials related to 226 separate witnesses whom the government does not intend to call as witnesses at trial. Ms. Maxwell has not yet received these
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DOJ-OGR-00001390