The new trial for rape and sexual assault of Harvey Weinstein, the former mogul of Hollywood, opened Monday in Los Angeles with the selection of jurors.
The 70-year-old producer of pulp Fiction has already been convicted in New York, where he has been serving a 23-year prison sentence since 2020 for sexual assault and rape.
This new trial coincides almost to the day with the fifth anniversary of the #MeToo movement, triggered by revelations about his behavior as a sexual predator.
In Los Angeles, he faces eleven counts for alleged acts committed on five women in hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013.
If found guilty, Harvey Weinstein — who has pleaded not guilty to all counts — could face more than 100 additional years behind bars.
A crowd of reporters gathered outside a downtown Los Angeles court on Monday where the former Hollywood star producer is due to appear for the next two months.
A trap “
His conviction in March 2020 in New York, followed by an immediate imprisonment and whose appeal was rejected, was a major victory for the #MeToo movement.
In total, nearly 90 women including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette have accused Harvey Weinstein of harassment, sexual assault, or rape. But the statute of limitations has been exceeded in many of these cases, some dating back to 1977.
The ex-producer is also charged in the United Kingdom for sexual assaults which date back to 1996.
Among the five accusers — all of whom will appear in Los Angeles as “Jane Doe” — is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein during an alleged business meeting that turned out to be a trap,” her lawyer Elizabeth Fegan told the newspaper.
“She intends to testify during her trial in order to obtain some form of justice for the victims and improve the condition of women,” she added. Siebel Newsom, a film producer, previously wrote about Mr Weinstein’s behavior in an essay published in 2017, but did not elaborate on the alleged assaults.
Allegations
According to Mr. Weinstein’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, well-known personalities, seen “in films, in advertisements”, will testify during the trial.
The former producer has always assured that all his accusers were consenting.
The allegations are “unproven, not credible and unsubstantiated”, Mark Werksman told the press in July 2021, arguing that there was no forensic evidence or credible witnesses to support them.
Mr. Weinstein’s retrial also coincides with the premiere of the film ‘She Said’, which will premiere next week at the New York Film Festival and traces the investigation by the two New York Times reporters into the grip and wrongdoings of the almighty producer.
Before his fall, his influence on Hollywood was immense. Over the years, films produced by Mr. Weinstein, such as Inglorious bastards by Quentin Tarantino, received more than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes.