DOJ-OGR-00006905.pdf

--- Page 1 --- **Document Header** * **Case Number:** 1:20-cr-00330-PAE * **Document Number:** 453 * **Filed Date:** 11/12/21 * **Page Number:** 25 of 52 **Text Extraction** Recognizing that Rocchio's opinions are thus unreliable, the government says: "If the victim experienced attachment and grooming, it makes no analytical difference whether the perpetrator intends to engage in sexual contact with the victim or, instead, is preparing the victim for abuse by a third party." Resp. at 26. Hardly. It makes all the difference in the world because Ms. Maxwell is on trial, not Mr. Epstein. The logic (such as it is) of grooming evidence is that the perpetrator normalizes sexual behavior to facilitate his later abuse of the victim. But because Ms. Maxwell did not abuse anyone, there is no basis to conclude that anything she did was "grooming." The government thus intends to have Rocchio characterize innocent conduct by Ms. Maxwell as something more nefarious, thereby further blurring the line that experts are already unable to draw reliably. Resp. Ex. A. p 2 ("There is a lack of consensus regarding exactly what [the grooming] process entails and how it is clearly distinguished from normal adult-child interactions."). The government's additional arguments fail. A psychologist who treats alleged victims of abuse but does not treat alleged perpetrators is nothing like a urologist who treats urology patients. Resp. at 11 (citing Bosco v. United States, No. 14 CIV. 3525 (JFK), 2016 WL 5376205 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 26, 2016)). Rocchio assumes her patients are telling the truth, and she never hears or credits the other side of the story. The urologist, by contrast, has scientific means to verify what her patients tell her, and there isn't another person whose side of the story she needs to hear. The government repeatedly says that "courts have frequently admitted testimony about the psychological relationship between victims of sexual abuse and their perpetrators." Resp. at 13. See also id. at 7-8. But those cases do not address the perpetrator's additional arguments fail. **Footer** * **DOJ-OGR-00006905** **Page Number** * **19**