Despite the fact that only one 14-year-old victim testified, the 2006 grand jury indicted Jeffrey Epstein on only one charge of soliciting a prostitute - what a "john" could face. The Palm Beach Post is also trying to make the transcript public.

WEST PALM BEACH - Without evidence of criminal wrongdoing, a Palm Beach County judge said she won’t release records from a 2006 grand jury hearing that ended with the indictment of suspected serial child molester Jeffrey Epstein on a single charge of soliciting a prostitute.

During a roughly half-hour hearing on Tuesday, Circuit Judge Krista Marx told a special prosecutor appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that he provided no evidence to justify his unusual request to pierce the secrecy of the grand jury.

>>POST INVESTIGATION: To the first prosecutors, Epstein’s victims were prostitutes

M. Levering Evans, an assistant state attorney in Fort Pierce, said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will interview Epstein’s accusers and others to find evidence that would convince Marx to reconsider her decision.

"It was a bit of a long shot and the judge shot us down," he said Wednesday.

To determine whether then-State Attorney Barry Krischer handled the grand jury appropriately, state police planned to interview women who were in their teens when they claim the millionaire financier lured them to his Palm Beach mansion for sex, Evans said.

But they hoped the grand jury records would guide them.

"Any investigation begins with gathering documents and then interviewing witnesses," he said. Since Marx rejected the request for grand jury records, the typical process will be reversed, he said.

Attorney Matthew Weissing, whose Fort Lauderdale law firm has pushed for justice of many of Epstein’s victims, supported Evans’ request.

Longtime Epstein criminal defense lawyer Jack Goldberger attended the hearing. Since Epstein in August hanged himself in a New York City jail cell while awaiting trial on dozens of child molestation charges, it is unclear who Goldberger represented. He wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Epstein’s $577 million estate has been sued by more than a dozen women, who claim the politically connected money manager molested them at his various homes, including his waterfront mansion in Palm Beach and his sprawling townhouse in Manhattan.

The Palm Beach Post has also filed a lawsuit, seeking to open the grand jury proceedings. It filed suit in November after its investigation revealed that while more than a dozen teens accused Epstein of sexual assault, only one 14-year-old girl testified before the grand jury.

>>RELATED: Former Palm Beach County woman sues Epstein’s estate, claiming she was molested at 14

Sources said Krischer’s top prosecutor undermined the girl’s credibility by focusing on her MySpace pages instead of the trauma of being fondled by a man nearly 40 years her senior.

Both Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg and Clerk & Comptroller Sharon Bock are urging Circuit Judge Donald Hafele to reject the newspaper’s request. Both claim the paper has no right to obtain the grand jury records and reveal them to the public.

Florida law says the records can only be turned over to attorneys and their clients for use in civil or criminal cases and "for no other purpose whatsoever," they argued in court papers.

No hearing date for the newspaper’s request has been set.

Like The Post, Evans argued that the law allows the records to be unsealed if it would further the interest of justice.

Typically, he said, judges release the records if there is evidence that someone lied. While rare, his office has successfully gotten grand jury materials by arguing that a witness committed perjury, he said.

"In order to unseal, she would have to see evidence of criminal wrongdoing," Evans said.

In addition to examining Krischer’s handling of the case, FDLE is also investigating the way the Sheriff’s Office handled Epstein. He was given liberal work release during the 13 months he spent in the Palm Beach County Stockade.

>>POST EXCLUSIVE: Never-before-seen Jeffrey Epstein biography surfaces

He was allowed to leave his cell 12 hours a day, six days a week to work at his nonprofit Florida Science Foundation. A woman has filed suit in New York City, claiming she was a teen when she was flown here to have sex with Epstein while he was supposedly under the watchful eyes of deputies.

Epstein formed the nonprofit after he signed a controversial nonprosecution pact, agreeing to plead guilty to two state prostitution charges. In return, federal prosecutors agreed to shelve a 53-page indictment they had prepared against him.

While Krischer has steadfastly refused to talk about his role in the once-secret accord, records obtained by The Post show he helped broker the deal with Goldberger and then-South Florida U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta.

Krischer took the case to the grand jury in 2006 and obtained a single charge of soliciting a prostitute.

Later, at the urging of federal prosecutors, he charged Epstein with soliciting a minor for prostitution, which forced Epstein to register as a sex offender.

The crime was later wiped off the books by state lawmakers, who agreed minors couldn’t be prostitutes because they can’t legally consent to sex.

jmusgrave@pbpost.com

@pbpcourts