Harvey Weinstein is trial for intercourse crimes in New York, once more : NPR

Harvey Weinstein seems in courtroom for a pre-trial listening to on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 in New York.

Jefferson Siegel/AP

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Jefferson Siegel/AP

Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein is on trial for intercourse crimes, once more. Jury choice started on Tuesday in a decrease Manhattan courtroom, the place Weinstein, as soon as one of the vital highly effective individuals in Hollywood, should reply expenses that he sexually assaulted three completely different ladies.

Over the course of the trial’s first day, roughly 140 potential jurors have been seated in Choose Curtis Farber’s courtroom. However by late within the day, solely about 40 remained. Lots of these dismissed raised their fingers when requested by the decide in the event that they doubted they might be truthful and neutral. Choose Farber did particular person, closed-door questioning with a number of women and men who stated they or somebody near them had skilled sexual abuse.

Weinstein was within the courtroom all through, sporting a darkish go well with. After being launched by the decide, he wished potential jurors an excellent afternoon. At one level he had what gave the impression to be a manuscript on his lap. His legal professional, Arthur Aidala, reported it was No one’s Idiot by Harlan Coben.

It’s Weinstein’s third trial in simply over 5 years. In 2020, he was convicted of two felony intercourse crimes in New York. Two years later he was convicted of three counts in California.

Final 12 months, an appeals courtroom overturned Weinstein’s New York conviction, concluding that the trial decide had improperly allowed the testimony of a number of witnesses who described alleged sexual misconduct that was not charged within the indictment. Weinstein’s 23-year sentence was thereby voided. Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg stated quickly after that his workplace deliberate to retry Weinstein. In September, Bragg introduced an additional grand jury indictment that wasn’t included in previous cases. 

Within the trial, jurors are anticipated to listen to from two alleged victims who testified in 2020, former actress Jessica Mann and producer Miriam “Mimi” Haley, who beforehand used the final identify Haleyi, in addition to an extra accuser, whose existence Bragg revealed last September. That girl says Weinstein compelled her to carry out oral intercourse on him in a resort in 2006.

Lindsay Goldbrum, a lawyer for the Weinstein accuser whose identification has not but been made public, stated outdoors courtroom on Tuesday that her consumer desires the jury to get to the reality.

“In the course of the trial, there might be a whole lot of pundits, commentators and so-called specialists discussing whether or not or not these acts have been consensual, however what issues right here is the details,” Goldbrum stated, “and I am assured {that a} jury will discover that these acts weren’t consensual, and they’ll convict.”

Choose Farber has stated jury choice might final 5 days. Weinstein has pleaded not responsible. Whereas awaiting retrial, he has been held at Rikers Island, excluding a number of stays at Bellevue Hospital.

On Tuesday, his attorneys petitioned the courtroom to permit Weinstein to remain at Bellevue throughout the trial, citing “mistreatment” at Rikers and a litany of well being points.

Weinstein, 73, has lately undergone therapy for bone marrow most cancers, and final 12 months obtained emergency coronary heart surgical procedure. At a listening to final week, he used a wheelchair however appeared vigorous and alert, answering questions from Choose Farber, and conferring along with his authorized workforce.

Whereas Weinstein fights the New York expenses, and has appealed his California conviction, he stays a disgraced determine. Dozens of ladies have accused him of misconduct, and he has confronted a raft of civil litigation. Outstanding leisure figures from Asia Argento to Rose McGowan to Ashley Judd have accused him of abusing his energy and affect.

For a few years, Weinstein stood on the intersection of essential acclaim and field workplace success. His tasks included Pulp Fiction, Good Will Looking, Shakespeare in Love and The English Affected person. In 2017, two blockbuster tales in The New York Times and The New Yorker broke open Weinstein’s lengthy historical past of alleged sexual misconduct, each together with the names of a number of accusers who have been prepared to go on the report.

That reporting catalyzed the #MeToo motion, and shortly led to Weinstein’s skilled downfall. Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Firm, which he co-founded along with his brother, Bob. It then filed for chapter.