Harvey Weinstein’s new rape trial begins in Los Angeles | Harvey Weinstein

As Harvey Weinstein faces a brand new trial on a number of counts of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles, a prosecutor has alleged a collection of graphic rapes in lodge rooms throughout the town , and a bunch of girls afraid of Weinstein’s energy in Hollywood.

Los Angeles prosecutors say eight ladies will testify in courtroom on Weinstein’s alleged crimes, together with Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary producer and actress now married to the president. Governor of California, Gavin Newsom. Siebel Newsom alleges Weinstein raped her throughout a 2005 enterprise assembly, when she was a younger actress attempting to construct her profession.

In his opening assertion, Weinstein’s protection lawyer, Mark Werksman, says accusers within the case “staged” the assaults or engaged in sexual dealings with the once-powerful movie producer. The incumbent First Girl of California has now launched herself as a sufferer of #MeToo to keep away from “simply one other snack man who slept with Harvey Weinstein to make his method to Hollywood”., Werksman mentioned.

Werksman informed the jury: “You will not see a single witness to any declare of sexual assault. “Primarily, each one among these accusations goes to be pinned right down to accusers saying ‘belief me.'”

At the moment, Weinstein, 70, is serving a 23-year sentence after being convicted of a intercourse crime in New York in February 2020. Since 2017, almost 100 ladies have publicly accused Weinstein of sexual violence and inappropriate sexual habits in encounters for the reason that Nineteen Seventies, revelations which have spurred a global motion for that there aren’t any prison or social penalties for {powerful} males sexually abusing ladies.

Weinstein has pleaded not responsible to the brand new prices and says all of his intercourse with ladies was consensual.

The opening statements by each the prosecution and the protection make it clear that the trial will face the continued interactions the alleged victims had with Weinstein within the years following their assault.

Prosecutor Paul Thompson mentioned the jury will hear testimony from a physician who works with sexual assault victims about misconceptions about how those that have been raped behaved afterwards, together with that how many individuals have been raped by somebody they knew, and continued to speak with their assailant after the assault. .

Werksman, the protection lawyer, mentioned the jury will ask her about emails the alleged victims despatched Weinstein years after their assembly, together with one which Siebel Newsom allegedly claimed submitted in 2007 asking Weinstein for recommendation on a “dangerous press scenario.”

Weinstein donated to Gavin Newsom within the San Francisco mayoral bids and the race for California governor, Werksman mentioned.

“He took cash from his spouse’s rapist to advertise his political campaigns,” the protection lawyer mentioned. “That is the form of work you are coping with on this case.”

Siebel Newsom’s lawyer has spoken publicly about her tentative testimony, and Thompson talked about her husband’s identify in courtroom. The identities of the opposite accusers are being saved secret in courtroom paperwork, often called Jane Does 1 to five.

Whereas the district lawyer’s workplace had beforehand mentioned that 9 ladies would testify within the case, there was no point out of Jane Doe 5 all through the prosecutor’s opening arguments, however solely her testimony. eight ladies. The explanation for this variation was not instantly clear.

Weinstein was indicted on a complete of 11 counts, however 4 of them – together with two counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault – concerned the girl not named within the prologue. The district lawyer’s workplace didn’t clarify why the fifth accuser was not talked about in Thompson’s opening assertion. Gloria Allred, lawyer for Jane Doe 5, declined to touch upon the omission, Los Angeles Occasions report.

Within the opening arguments, Thompson describes many ladies crying when Weinstein attacked them, and a lady confirmed him photos of her youngsters being assaulted to attempt to get him to cease.

That lady, the trial’s first witness, a European actress and mannequin referred to in courtroom paperwork as “Jane Doe 1,” cried throughout her testimony on Monday, when she accused Allegedly, Weinstein out of the blue confirmed up in her lodge room throughout an Italian movie pageant in Los Angeles, and first requested her for a therapeutic massage, then grabbed her and compelled her to carry out intercourse. oral intercourse.

She testified that she repeatedly requested Weinstein to go away, saying she could not have intercourse with him as a result of she had three youngsters, and that she began crying and choking throughout the assembly. take away. When requested by Thompson how Weinstein reacted when she cried, she mentioned, “He does not care.”

LA Superior Courtroom Decide Lisa Lench adjourned Monday afternoon’s trial as first witness sobbed when she was requested to proceed describing the assault.

Prosecutors mentioned different witnesses would testify to the same sample of shock assaults in lodge rooms, and particularly in lodge room loos.

In 2005, Siebel Newsom was a “helpless actor looking for his method to Hollywood” when Weinstein invited her to a enterprise assembly after which raped her, Thompson mentioned within the prosecution’s opening argument. . Siebel Newsom was invited to “focus on her profession” at a lodge, and was stunned when the assembly was moved to a personal room and Weinstein’s enterprise associates shortly left, Thompson mentioned. Weinstein then summoned her to the toilet, requested her to the touch him, then pressured her to mattress and raped her, prosecutors mentioned.

Throughout the assault, Siebel Newsom was crying and shaking, and “wasn’t capable of say a phrase due to her worry,” Thompson mentioned.

Prosecutors allege a 3rd lady, a star masseuse, entered the toilet to scrub her arms after giving Weinstein a therapeutic massage, just for Weinstein to observe her into the toilet, groping her and masturbating on the ground. house, prosecutors allege.

Weinstein informed the masseuse it is “fully regular, he is performed it with lots of people,” Thompson mentioned.

The masseuse can be anticipated to testify that on a later event, when her new boss wished to be launched to Weinstein, he informed her that “it’s going to value you.” and requested her to observe him masturbate, Thompson mentioned.

Werksman, the protection lawyer, mentioned in his opening assertion that the trial merely emphasised that “in Hollywood, intercourse is a commodity” and mentioned that “intercourse dealing” was described within the trial. “It may be disagreeable and embarrassing… nevertheless it was unanimous. “

Victims accused of participating in same-sex intercourse, Werksman mentioned, now “must deceive themselves” about what occurred.

Weinstein has denied any gratuitous intercourse acts and pleaded not responsible. On Monday, he was wheeled to courtroom by congressmen, sporting a black go well with and blue tie. In courtroom on Monday, he didn’t present a lot response to the graphic descriptions of his alleged rapes and assaults.

Weinstein, the Oscar-winning producer of Shakespeare in Love and The King’s Speech, turned the face of #MeToo allegations 5 years in the past, when actors featured, together with Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, started talking out about her habits. Investigations by the New York Occasions and New Yorker have uncovered each the ability producer and the folks and organizations which have fueled his habits for many years.

Weinstein was tried in New York on 5 counts and convicted of two counts in February 2020. He was extradited from New York to Los Angeles jail in July 2021.

A jury of 9 males and three ladies sat in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Amongst potential witnesses who may testify within the trial is actor Mel Gibson, who prosecutors say is a good friend of one of many accusers – a masseuse who alleges Weinstein assaulted sexually assaulted her after she gave him a therapeutic massage in Beverly Hills in 2010.

Now unwell, Weinstein is confined to a wheelchair throughout the jury choice on the Los Angeles Superior Courtroom. He may face 140 years in jail if convicted on all 11 counts in Los Angeles.

In New York, Weinstein is interesting a 2020 conviction for rape and sexual assault, and is serving a 23-year jail sentence of greater than two years. The state’s highest courtroom agreed to listen to his attraction in that case.

Related Press contributed reporting