Harvey Weinstein’s L.A. trial: Eleven potential jurors are dismissed on day one of jury selection after judge asks if they can be impartial
- Of the 67 jurors presented yesterday, 11 were dismissed from the trial
- An additional 75 were brought before the court on Tuesday and 75 more will be presented tomorrow
- Weinstein is facing 11 counts of sexual assault and rape at the L.A. trial
- If convicted, he faces up to 140 years behind bars in total
- He waved from his wheelchair in the courtroom yesterday but did not speak
- It remains unclear if he will take the stand at any time during the trial
- Opening statements are scheduled to begin on October 24
Eleven potential jurors were dismissed from Harvey Weinstein’s L.A. sexual assault trial on the first day of jury selection after a judge asked whether or not they could be impartial.
In total, 67 were quizzed over Weinstein and ordered to answer a questionnaire on the movie mogul’s reputation. The judge dismissed 11, leaving 56 potential jurors.
Today, another 75 will be presented and another 75 will be brought in tomorrow. The jury will not be finalized for another two weeks.
Opening statements are scheduled for October 24 and the trial is due to last at least a few months.
Weinstein waved from his wheelchair in the courtroom yesterday but did not speak throughout the first day of jury selection
Of the 67 jurors brought in, 56 were allowed to proceed and 11 were dismissed by the judge
Weinstein faces 11 crimes at this trial and a maximum of 140 years. He is accused of various sexual assaults against five women between 2003 and 2014 in Los Angeles.
The case comes at the same time as he is appealing his New York conviction and 23-year sentence.
He insists he has never received a fair trial given the unparalleled attention the allegations against him received.
Among the women expected to take the stand at the L.A. trial is Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
She says she was raped by Weinstein in 2005, three years before she married her politician husband.
It will be the first time she describes their alleged encounter in detail.
She previously told of having ‘similar’ experiences with Weinstein as his other accusers, but has never given more information about the 2005 incident.
Newsom and his wife, left. She has never spoken at length about her experience with Weinstein but is expected to take the stand. Right, Siebel Newsom in the 2008 movie April Fools Day
THE LOS ANGELES CHARGES AGAINST WEINSTEIN
JANE DOE #1 – Unidentified Italian actress
Forced oral copulation – February 18, 2013
Sexual penetration by foreign object – February 18, 2013
Forcible rape against the same woman on the same day – February 18, 2013
JANE DOE #2
Sexual battery – February 19, 2013
JANE DOE #3
Sexual battery by restraint – May 11, 2010.
‘Weinstein unlawfully touched an intimate part of Jane Doe #3 while she was unlawfully restrained’.
JANE DOE #4 – Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Forcible oral copulation – September 2005
Forcible rape – September 2005
JANE DOE #5
Forcible oral copulation November – 2009
Forcible rape – November 2009
Forcible oral copulation – November 2010
Forcible rape – November 2010
The Los Angeles Times on Monday reported for the first time that Siebel-Newsom is Jane Doe #4.
Weinstein is accused raping and forcing oral sex on her.
Elizabeth Fegan, her attorney, said: ‘Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap.
‘She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors, and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women.’
Another of the accusers is Lauren Young, an actress and model who testified at his New York trial.
Her attorney, Gloria Allred, confirmed to DailyMal.com that she would be testifying.
Siebel Newsom first accused Weinstein of attacking her in a 2017 article for The Huffington Post.
‘I was naive, new to the industry, and didn’t know how to deal with his aggressive advances,’ she wrote at the time.
Weinstein, 70 – who’s being held at LA’s notorious Twin Towers jail – pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges when he first appeared in court in July last year after being extradited from New York where he’s serving a 23-year sentence for the rape and sexual assault of two women.
The LA charges against him include rape, sexual battery, forced oral copulation and forced sexual penetration involving five un-named women between 2004 and 2013.
And with more than 260 people on the prosecution’s witness list, the West Coast trial is expected to last up to two months.
At a pre-trial court hearing last August, the ex-movie mogul’s attorney, Mark Werksman, tried to persuade Judge Lisa Lench to delay the trial, contending that a ‘firestorm of publicity’ about the upcoming Brad Pitt-produced film She Said could ‘prejudice the jury’ against Weinstein.
She Said, opening in theaters November 18, stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor who wrote an expose on Weinstein in 2017.
And Werksman claimed that billboards, other advertising and social media about the flick will highlight the ‘lurid and negative aspects of this case’ and could influence a jury against his client.
But Judge Lench denied Werksman’s motion to postpone the trial till at least January to allow publicity about the movie to die down.
‘I don’t think there is gong to be a time when there is not media coverage of this case,’ the judge told the court.
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