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Weinstein retrial to begin in Los Angeles, five years after explosive reports | Harvey Weinstein

October 9, 2022

Five years after the explosive reports that ended his career, disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein will go on trial in Los Angeles on Monday for a series of alleged sexual assaults involving five different women.

This is the second trial for the former Hollywood titan, who has been incarcerated since February 2020 when he was convicted of sexual assault and rape in proceedings in New York.

Authorities extradited Weinstein to California last year to face 11 other sexual assault charges for alleged attacks that took place between 2004 and 2013, including forced rape, forced oral copulation, sexual assault by coercion and forced sexual penetration.

With Weinstein already likely to spend the rest of his life in prison, Jamie White, an attorney who has represented survivors of Larry Nassar, the American gym doctor whose serial sexual abuse of girls and young women has rocked the gymnastics world, said it was important that all victims be held accountable.

“These victims deserve accountability,” he said. “This is the responsibility we expect from our officials when a victim is involved.”

Gloria Allred echoed his remarks. “There is no limit to the number of appropriate prosecutions that are sufficient evidence to warrant a prosecution elsewhere of the same defendant,” the lawyer, who is representing three women testifying in the upcoming trial, said in an interview with Variety.

“It’s about seeking justice for them,” she said of the women who were affected.

Weinstein’s trial in Los Angeles comes half a decade after initial reports of the numerous allegations against him sparked a movement, leading women around the world to speak out about the abuse they have faced at the hands of powerful men.

The #MeToo movement took off in 2017 after The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed Weinstein’s long history of sexual misconduct, with stories from actors such as Ashley Judd, and how his powerful status in Hollywood left him allowed the abuse of women without consequence for decades. .

women line up near the podium — A group of Silence Breakers who have spoken out against Weinstein are meeting for a press conference in 2020. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

There had long been whispers about the behavior of the movie mogul, whose company was behind films such as Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love, but the stories shed light on how the team of lawyers, detectives Weinstein’s private and paid advisers helped silence accusers who ranged from actors to production assistants.

Within weeks of the first revelations, nearly 90 women had come forward to accuse Weinstein of inappropriate behavior and sexual violence in incidents dating back to the 1970s.

Weinstein’s 2020 trial in New York on charges of raping two women marked a historic moment in the #MeToo movement that saw others testify about their experiences, including Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, who has said the producer raped her in the early 1990s.

The jury found Weinstein guilty of third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act for forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley, a former Project Runway production assistant. A judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison.

Yet Weinstein, now 70, has long maintained his innocence. He recently sought to have his conviction overturned in New York, but a five-judge panel upheld the decision. The state’s highest court, however, agreed to allow Weinstein to appeal the conviction.

Weinstein’s trial in Los Angeles comes at a critical time for the #MeToo movement. The case is one of many unfolding across America this month, including lawsuits against actors Kevin Spacey and Danny Masterson and director Paul Haggis.

It also follows high-profile proceedings this year which saw a jury order actor Amber Heard to pay her ex-husband Johnny Depp $10 million for defamation after he wrote about his experience as a speaking out against violence against women.

In the years since Weinstein’s revelations, some people argued the move had gone too far, said White, the attorney. Weinstein should not benefit from this idea, he continued, adding that there had been crucial progress in the years since the movement began.

“We see laws all over this country changing. There has already been extraordinary progress. There’s still a lot to do,” White said. “We have to make sure that those policies change and those temperaments and that we don’t go back to our old ways.”

Weinstein has denied the allegations against him. “All of the allegations against Mr. Weinstein are either fabricated or stem from consensual sex that his accusers falsely characterize as sexual assault,” Weinstein’s attorney Mark Werksman said.

The lawyer added that Weinstein was ill, unable to walk and had several infected teeth because he could not receive proper dental care at the Los Angeles County Jail.

Jury selection for Weinstein’s trial in Los Angeles begins Monday. If convicted of these charges, he faces up to 140 years in prison.