JAMES PATTERSON

FI

Kennedy Smith. The prosecutors presented Epstein a choice: plead to more serious state felony charges (that would result in 2 years' imprisonment, registration as a sexual offender, and restitution for the victims) or else prepare for a federal felony trial.

What followed was a year-long assault on the prose- cution and the prosecutors. I use the word assault inten- tionally, as the defense in this case was more aggressive than any which I, or the prosecutors in my office, had previously encountered. Mr. Epstein hired an army of legal superstars: Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, for- mer Judge and then Pepperdine Law Dean Kenneth Starr, former Deputy Assistant to the President and then Kirk- land & Ellis Partner Jay Lefkowitz, and several others, including prosecutors who had formerly worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office and in the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department. Defense attorneys next requested a meeting with me to challenge the prosecution and the terms previously presented by the prosecutors in their meeting with Mr. Black. The prosecution team and I met with defense counsel in Fall 2007, and I reaffirmed the office's position: two years, registration and restitution, or trial.

Over the next several months, the defense team pre- sented argument after argument claiming that felony criminal proceedings against Epstein were unsupported by the evidence and lacked a basis in law, and that the office's insistence on jail-time was motivated by a zeal to overcharge a man merely because he is wealthy. They bolstered their arguments with legal opinions from

well-known legal expert
team warned me that the
good man to serve time
book if we continued tc
office systematically cons
ment, and when we di
appealed to Washington..

The defense strategy
Defense counsel investiga
their families, looking for
provide a basis for disqual
ecutor is an effective (th
eliminating the individua
and thus most qualified to
lihood for success. Defens
least two prosecutors. I
rejected, these arguments.

Despite the army of att
the terms first presented
meeting. On June 30, 2008
appeal to Washington D.C
guilty in state court. He wa
onment, register as a sexua
restitution to the victims.

Some may feel that the
tougher. Evidence that has
encourage that view. Many
out, filing detailed statemen
ages. Physical evidence has
these additional statements

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{"people":["kennedy smith","jeffrey epstein","alan dershowitz","kenneth starr","jay p. lefkowitz"]}