Movies

Harvey Weinstein stares at jurors at Los Angeles trial

October 28, 2022

Harvey Weinstein was repositioned Thursday in a Los Angeles courtroom.
For the first two days of the trial, he was directly facing the jurors, until the sheriff’s deputy noticed him.
Weinstein’s attorneys have focused on his appearance before and during the trial.

Harvey Weinstein was ushered to another section of a Los Angeles courtroom after locking eyes directly with jurors for two straight days. He is on trial for rape charges.

The disgraced media mogul pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault in a Los Angeles court on July 21, 2021, and his current trial deals with the allegations of five women, which he has denied.

During Thursday’s testimony, Weinstein was moved next to his attorneys after county officials noticed he was facing the jury — which is not allowed, per County Sheriff’s Department policy. Los Angeles, according to the Wrap. The department did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Earlier in the week, Weinstein was reclined so that his wheelchair faced the jurors, according to trial pool reports. On Wednesday, he was repositioned after an LA County Sheriff’s Department deputy noticed Weinstein was sitting poorly. Judge Lisa Lench allowed his lawyers to move him next to their bench in his wheelchair.

According to the Wrap, Weinstein’s legal team asked him to stay, citing difficulty moving his wheelchair and lack of space on the defense bench.

The seat snafu follows a series of efforts by his defense to present a certain image to the jury.

Before the trial, Weinstein’s attorneys said their client’s health was declining in a county jail. Last year, Weinstein’s lawyers requested that he undergo eye surgery and dental surgery, and during jury selection, his legal team said they feared he would die.

In opening arguments, Weinstein’s attorneys asked jurors to think about his physical appearance as they claimed sex in Hollywood was a “commodity” and, for Weinstein, consensual.

“You will learn that in Hollywood, sex was a commodity,” Weinstein’s attorney, Mark Werksman, said Monday. “It was the cast couch. Everybody did it. He did it. They did it. Because everyone wanted something from each other.”

In a cheeky moment, Werksman urged jurors to take stock of Weinstein to prove a point about Weinstein providing access to Hollywood.

“Now look at him. It’s not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. You think those beautiful women slept with him because he’s hot?” Werksman said during opening arguments Monday. “No. They did it because he was powerful.”

On Thursday, Weinstein wore a gray suit and continued to watch the jury and observers behind them from his team bench.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York after a New York jury found him guilty in 2020 of third-degree rape and forcible sexual assault of two women, and could face 135 years additional jail time if convicted in Los Angeles.

Accusers allege the incidents in the Los Angeles case took place at expensive Los Angeles hotels between 2004 and 2013.

Earlier this week, Jane Doe 1 claimed she was afraid Weinstein would kill her in a 2013 assault at the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival. All five accusers — including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom — will testify in the case, and several will use pseudonyms, according to the prosecution.