Jury begins in Harvey Weinstein‘s retrial, 12 months after courtroom overturned landmark #MeToo verdict
The final time a New York Metropolis jury sat in judgment of Harvey Weinstein, the ex-movie studio boss was convicted of rape and sentenced to 23 years in jail.
5 years later, that landmark #MeToo verdict is gone — wiped away on attraction — and Weinstein is about to go on trial once more, starting Tuesday with jury choice.
New York’s highest courtroom, the Courtroom of Appeals, overturned Weinstein’s conviction and ordered a brand new trial, discovering that improper rulings and prejudicial testimony tainted his authentic one in 2020.
That ruling gave Weinstein a second probability to combat the costs and achieve this in a distinct environment than his first trial, which was held in the course of a worldwide reckoning over sexual misconduct.
Weinstein, 73, who has pleaded not responsible and denies that he raped or sexually assaulted anybody, is older and extra frail, out and in of the hospital commonly for quite a lot of well being issues. He is now far faraway from when he was among the many strongest males within the film enterprise.
Even when he’s acquitted, he is not going to stroll free.
Weinstein can also be interesting a 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. His 16-year jail sentence in that case nonetheless stands, although his legal professionals stated he must be resentenced as a result of the since-vacated New York conviction factored into how his punishment was calculated.
Weinstein is being retried on two prices from his authentic trial. He’s accused of raping an aspiring actor in a Manhattan lodge room in 2013 and performing a legal intercourse act by forcing oral intercourse on a film and TV manufacturing assistant in 2006.
He’s additionally charged with one depend of legal intercourse act based mostly on an allegation from a lady who was not part of the unique trial. That lady, who has requested that she not be named publicly, alleges that Weinstein compelled oral intercourse on her at a Manhattan lodge.
Talking outdoors the courthouse on Tuesday, that accuser’s lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, stated one factor would turn out to be “crystal clear” from her consumer’s upcoming testimony on the trial: “This was not consensual. This was sexual assault with drive.”
“I’m assured that there shall be justice on this case,” Goldbrum advised reporters, including that her consumer was resolved to testify. “It will be significant for ladies all over the place and for people who find themselves victims of sexual assault all over the place that others pave the best way and present their dedication on this combat in opposition to sexual assault.”
