maxwell refusing to take the trial. nbc s kathy park has more on this. reporter: yasmin, after two days of testimony presented by maxwell s attorneys, prosecutors rested and defense attorney has no rebuttal. maxwell rests without bail. ghislaine maxwell s sex trafficking trial is headed into its final stretch. her defense team resting its case after a rocky start friday. and with no testimony from maxwell. she told the judge, your honor, the government has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, so there s no reason for me to testify. maxwell s lawyers planned to call a trio of women friday, saying they were running into problems, including one witness who they say ignored a subpoena. maxwell s attorney pleaded for more time saying our client s life is on the line. the judge refused to delay the trial. when it s time to call your
of that former officer could come as early as friday. legal experts have described it as a bold move. you don t always see defendants taking the stand in their own defense. but it likely signals that defense attorneys are confident that their client will come across to the jury as believable. of course, it also comes with certain risks. by testifying she opens herself up to cross-examination by prosecution lawyers who no doubt have spent months plotting questions they would want to ask this officer if given the chance. josh campbell, cnn, minneapolis. of course, we ll stay on top of that story for you. now, ghislaine maxwell s sex trafficking trial is expected to continue. the first witness in her defense was a psychologist who testified about false memories in an attempt to undermine the four accusers who say maxwell groomed them for epstein s abuse. last week if you remember prosecutors introduced these pictures of maxwell and epstein embracing. the defense objected, but the judg
in just a few hours closing arguments begin in the trial of former empire star jussie smollett. the actor took the stand in his own defense this week, pushing back hard on the prosecution s theory that he paid two brothers to stage a hate crime against him, and then lied to police about it. jury deliberations are expected to start later today. cnn s sarah sidner has more on the story from chicago. reporter: christine and laura, fireworks in the courtroom as jussie smollett took the stand for a second day. he has maintained his innocence throughout, but he is charged with six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly perpetrating a fake hate crime against himself, blaming it on trump supporters, and then lying to police about it. he says he is innocent of all charges, but prosecutors trying to poke holes in his testimony on several different levels.
today they looked at a particular piece of testimony and video. the video of him in the news. the prosecutor asked him if he had taken that noose off and put it back on when police came to his door. smollett said he had done that, but taken off the noose and put it back on. not to show the crime was particularly egregious that someone tried to lynch him, but he said he was doing it because he wanted to make sure that he was preserving evidence as he was told by a colleague to do. the prosecution saying, well, if that is the case, then why did you say this to abc good morning america ? so, when the police came, i kept the clothes on. i kept the rope so you had the rope on the entire time? it wasn t like wrapped around, but yeah, it was around, because i wanted them to see. i wanted them to see what this was. reporter: smollett acknowledged what he said during that interview, but did not acknowledge the inconsistencies with what he testified to during the trial. and then there