The trial of Harvey Weinstein began in Los Angeles on Monday, marking the second time the former Hollywood titan is in a courtroom on accusations of sexual assault.
Weinstein, now 70, is facing 11 sexual assault charges for alleged attacks against five women between 2004 to 2013 in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. The accusations include forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint and sexual penetration by use of force.
Among those who will testify is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, the Los Angeles Times reported. Newsom, a documentary film-maker and former actor, spoke out about her experience with Weinstein in 2017, writing that “similar things happened” to her as those outlined in a bombshell New York Times report on the producer’s abuse.
Elizabeth Fegan, Siebel Newsom’s attorney, told the LA Times that she would testify, but would not discuss the matter outside the courtroom.
“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,” Fegan said.
Jury selection, the first phase of the trial, started on Monday in Los Angeles superior court and is expected to last two weeks.
Weinstein, who is being held in a Los Angeles county jail, was brought into court in a wheelchair through a side door and climbed from it carefully into a seat next to one of his lawyers at the defense table. He was wearing a blue suit, which he is allowed to change into from his jail attire during the trial.
He stood with the rest of the room as the first panel of 67 prospective jurors were brought in, but he sat down about halfway through the process. He waved at them from his seat when his lawyers introduced them.
The jurors were given a lengthy questionnaire intended to screen out those who need to be dismissed. Both the questions and answers on the forms are private, but previous hearings have revealed that they contain questions on how much media coverage of Weinstein potential jurors have seen, and whether they have formed opinions from it, though the judge rejected questions on specific stories and media outlets.
The prosecution will be allowed to introduce as evidence parts of Weinstein’s New York conviction for rape and sexual assault.
The questionnaire also includes a question about a California law that says the testimony alone of a sexual assault victim can be sufficient evidence to convict if a juror believes them.
The jurors were also given a long list of names of witnesses in the coming trial, including those of the accusers to determine whether they have any connection to them. The initial witness list in the case had more than 270 names, though fewer than half that are expected. Most of the prospective witness list has not been made public.
One witness, Barbara Schneeweiss, a producer on Project Runway and other television shows, was present in court early on Monday and was told by a judge she was on call to come in at any time.
Two more panels of up to 75 jurors will be brought in on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Questioning of individual jurors is not expected to begin until next week.
Weinstein’s trial in Los Angeles comes five years after reports in the New York Times and the New Yorker about the allegations against the producer helped spark the #MeToo movement.
Within weeks of the first revelations, nearly 90 women had come forward accusing Weinstein of inappropriate behavior and sexual violence in incidents that date back to the 1970s. Today, the former mogul has been publicly accused by more than 100 women.
Weinstein has been incarcerated since February 2020, when a New York jury convicted him of rape in the third degree for his assault on one woman and a criminal sex act in the first degree for forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley, a former Project Runway production assistant. A judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison.
Weinstein recently sought to have his New York conviction overturned, but a five-judge panel upheld the ruling. The state’s highest court, however, has agreed to allow Weinstein to appeal the conviction.
Weinstein has long maintained his innocence.
“All of the allegations against Mr Weinstein are either fabricated, or they result from consensual sexual relationships that his accusers now falsely characterize as sexual assaults,” Weinstein’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, said.
If convicted in Los Angeles, Weinstein faces up to 140 years in prison. The proceedings are expected to last several weeks.
