NEW YORK _ Jeffrey Epstein showed no signs of a suicide attempt during a brief court appearance Wednesday in which prosecutors said they wanted him to face trial in June 2020.
The multimillionaire sex offender sported the same blue jail uniform and tan shirt that he wore during previous in Manhattan Federal Court. His neck showed no bruising or abrasions. The Daily News reported last week that Epstein's cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, told authorities he might have saved the accused sex trafficker's life after an attempted hanging. Sources say he is now on suicide watch at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Epstein attorney Martin Weinberg declined to comment about what had happened, if anything, to his client.
He said in court that the case involved over 1 million pages of Epstein's documents seized by the government after his arrest earlier this month on allegations he abused dozens of underage girls at his Upper East Side mansion and in Florida between 2002 and 2005. Weinberg requested the trial be set in September of next year.
"It's a very difficult case over events alleged to have occurred 14 to 17 years ago," Weinberg said.
Judge Richard Berman did not set a firm trial date.
"We think there is a public interest in bringing this case to trial as quickly as possible," Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe said.
