Thread by @jkbjournalist

BREAKING: Despite calling the Jeffrey Epstein case "a national disgrace," a federal appeals court has ruled against Epstein's victims, saying that his plea deal, which included immunity for his co-conspirators, was legally executed. 1)

2. The court in a 2-1 decision, said that the rights of crime victims do not attach to a case until a defendant, in this case, Epstein, is indicted. The deal was negotiated before any indictment happened.

3. The majority wrote"Despite our sympathy for Ms. Wild and other [victims] like her, who suffered
unspeakable horror at Epstein’s hands, only to be left in the dark—and, so it seems,
affirmatively misled—by government lawyers, we find ourselves constrained to
deny her petition."

4. Wild, who was molested by Epstein starting when she was 14, filed a 2008 petition to overturn Epstein's non-prosecution agreement. She argued that her rights and the rights of all victims were violated by the deal because prosecutors did not follow the rules set under CVRA.

5. The CRVA (Crime Victims' Rights Act) mandates that prosecutors keep victims in the loop during a criminal case. Among other things, they are to confer with victims, and allow them to attend hearings and sentencings.

6. Epstein's deal, approved by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta of Miami, was done in secret and the prosecutors agreed with Epstein's lawyers to not notify his victims when the deal was done. They were not told about the deal or given the opportunity to appear at his sentencing.

7. The dissenting opinion said: The Court should enforce the plain and unambiguous text of the
CVRA and hold that the victims had two CVRA rights—the right to confer with
the government’s attorney and the right to be treated fairly—that were repeatedly
violated....

8. violated... by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida."