Jury selection begins today in Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial where nine women – including Gavin Newsom’s wife – will testify about how he allegedly abused them.
The trial is expected to last for months and could put Weinstein behind bars for life. In this case, he faces 11 charges relating to alleged crimes against five women. An additional four will testify as bad character witnesses.
Among the alleged victims to whom the charges pertain is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
She alleges that Weinstein attacked her in 2005 after luring her to a meeting which turned out to be a ‘trap’. It was three years before she married Newsom.
It will be the first time she describes their alleged encounter in detail.
She previously told of having ‘similar’ experiences with Weinstein as his other accusers, but has never given more information about the 2005 incident.
Among the alleged victims to whom the charges pertain is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Siebel alleges that Weinstein raped her in 2005, when she was an actress. It was three years before she married Newsom
The Los Angeles Times on Monday reported for the first time that Siebel-Newsom is Jane Doe #4.
Weinstein is accused raping and forcing oral sex on her.
Elizabeth Fegan, her attorney, said: ‘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.’
Another of the accusers is Lauren Young, an actress and model who testified at his New York trial.
Her attorney, Gloria Allred, confirmed to DailyMal.com that she would be testifying.
Siebel Newsom first accused Weinstein of attacking her in a 2017 article for The Huffington Post.
‘I was naive, new to the industry, and didn’t know how to deal with his aggressive advances,’ she wrote at the time.
Weinstein, 70 – who’s being held at LA’s notorious Twin Towers jail – pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges when he first appeared in court in July last year after being extradited from New York where he’s serving a 23-year sentence for the rape and sexual assault of two women.
The LA charges against him include rape, sexual battery, forced oral copulation and forced sexual penetration involving five un-named women between 2004 and 2013.
And with more than 260 people on the prosecution’s witness list, the West Coast trial is expected to last up to two months.
At a pre-trial court hearing last August, the ex-movie mogul’s attorney, Mark Werksman, tried to persuade Judge Lisa Lench to delay the trial, contending that a ‘firestorm of publicity’ about the upcoming Brad Pitt-produced film She Said could ‘prejudice the jury’ against Weinstein.
She Said, opening in theaters November 18, stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor who wrote an expose on Weinstein in 2017.
And Werksman claimed that billboards, other advertising and social media about the flick will highlight the ‘lurid and negative aspects of this case’ and could influence a jury against his client.
But Judge Lench denied Werksman’s motion to postpone the trial till at least January to allow publicity about the movie to die down.
‘I don’t think there is gong to be a time when there is not media coverage of this case,’ the judge told the court.
Newsom and his wife, left. She has never spoken at length about her experience with Weinstein but is expected to take the stand. Right, Siebel Newsom in the 2008 movie April Fools Day
Judge Lench also rejected Werksman’s request to delay the trial until after his appeal against his New York conviction and 23-year sentence is heard.
Two months ago, New York State of Appeals Chief Judge Janet DiFiore ruled that Weinstein – who has always insisted he’s innocent – would be allowed to appeal, based on his attorneys’ claims that he didn’t get a fair trial.
His lawyers maintain that his NY trial judge allowed several witnesses to testify about acts that Weinstein was never charged with.
And they also argued that one juror did not reveal that she’d written a book about sexual predators, which his legal team say should have disqualified her from serving on the jury.
The New York ruling means that NY State of Appeals Court will hear oral arguments in Weinstein’s appeal next year.
The court could uphold his conviction. But if it overturns his conviction and orders a new trial, he could be granted bail while awaiting any retrial.
Lauren Young, who testified at the New York, trial, will testify again in Los Angeles
Addressing Weinstein’s Los Angeles charges in August, Werksman argued that part of the prosecution’s LA case against Weinstein is based on his conviction in New York ‘that could be toppled by appeal’.
‘The (LA) prosecution should not be allowed to introduce this conviction when it could be reversed by New York’s Court of Appeal,’ he said.
LA deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson told the court that while the New York Court of Appeal has agreed to hear oral arguments next year, it could still be a ‘long time’ before it actually issues a ruling on whether to uphold or reverse his NY conviction.
If the start of Weinstein’s LA trial was delayed until after the New York appeal decision, he said, ‘we could be in a position of waiting years to try this case.’
Last May, prosecutors asked Judge Lench to allow 16 more alleged victims – including actresses Daryl Hannah and Rose McGowan – to testify against him at his upcoming trial.
Deputy Thompson argued that the evidence of the 16 other women was important because it showed Weinstein’s ‘MO’ and their experiences provided a ‘high level of similarity’ with the charges Weinstein is facing in LA.
But Werksman lashed back, saying that the prosecution’s aim with this long list of ‘vile, uncharged acts’ was to ‘make the jury hate Mr. Weinstein’.
Weinstein’s attorneys say the imminent release of She Said, a new movie about the scandal and how New York Times journalists first broke the story of Weinstein’s sexual crimes
Calling 16 more women – none of whom has proven their cases in court – was a ‘cynical ploy to overwhelm the court,’ said Werksman who accused prosecutors of trying to portray Weinstein as an ‘all-purpose, all weather, 24-7 rapist.’
He called the large number of extra alleged victims ‘mind-numbing, preposterous and ridiculously prejudicial.’ and added, ‘Nobody is going to remember who did what to whom, when, where and why.
‘It’s totally irrelevant, totally unnecessary. ‘We have a large abundance of witnesses already in the 11 charges in Los Angeles. Prosecutors are wasting our time. It’s a big feint – and your honor should not stand for it.’
Judge Lench ruled that all of the pre-2000 alleged victims except for one, should be excluded, leaving only six. Hannah and McGowan are not among those six.