Jury selection for Harvey Weinstein’s L.A. trial continues
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A lawyer representing disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein on Tuesday complained that he was being held in an “unsanitary, smelly” cell before being taken back to prison.
Speaking to Judge Lisa B. Lench, attorney Mark Werksman said Weinstein will be held in the “unsanitary” cell for three to four hours, alone in his wheelchair.
“It’s almost medieval, the circumstances,” said Werksman. “I am concerned about his health and his ability to survive this ordeal. He’s 70 years old.’
“I’m concerned he will survive this ordeal without a heart attack or stroke,” he added, before asking for “special treatment” for Weinstein, who he described as a “70-year-old man with health problems.”
Lench replied that she “will talk to the deputies about it.”
“I’m not minimizing it, I’m just not sure there’s a lot left to do.”
She later told Alan Jackson, Werksman’s co-advisor, “They don’t have a plethora of wheelchair vans to pick him up when he’s ready.”
But Werksman didn’t give up and filed four doctor’s letters with the court, suggesting that Weinstein doesn’t even have access to a restroom where he’s being held.
However, Lench immediately dismissed the claim, saying: ‘He doesn’t have a toilet, there is a toilet in the cell.
“I’m not going to show that he doesn’t have a toilet. I’m not going to make the record look like it didn’t have a toilet.”
At that point, Werksman seemed to backtrack on his original claim, saying he didn’t mean to imply there was no toilet.
Instead, he says the one provided is “unsanitary, virtually unusable, medieval.”
The exchange took place as the jury selection process continued for Weinstein’s sexual assault trial in Los Angeles.
Twenty-six potential jurors have already been released from the trial, which is set to begin October 24, after Lench asked the jurors to be impartial — allowing 56 potential jurors to return Monday.
Weinstein can be seen in court sketch as his lawyer claimed the disgraced movie mogul is being held in ‘unsanitary, smelly’ conditions
Weinstein’s lawyer also said he is “concerned about his health and his ability to survive this ordeal” as jury selections continued.
Weinstein waved from his wheelchair in court yesterday, but did not speak during the first day of the jury selection
Of the 67 jurors brought in, 56 were allowed to continue and 11 were dismissed by the judge
Speaking to the prospective jurors on Tuesday, Lench noted that the case “has received some media attention, and I understand that you received information about this case and about Mr. Weinstein in general before entering this courtroom.” ‘
“You mustn’t expose yourself to any information about this case from now on,” she said.
“No doubt everyone tries their best to be as accurate as possible, but it doesn’t always happen that way. It is important not to be guided by what is happening in the world.”
‘If you come across something, don’t read it, don’t listen to it, don’t look for it.
“That lasts until you’re apologised. Once you are excused as a juror, you may expose yourself to any information you choose.”
The group had been pre-screened for their ability to participate in the process, which will take months.
But on Tuesday they had to fill out a questionnaire in court about Weinstein’s reputation.
After that, Lench apologized to the 15 jurors and sent a handful of potential jurors still working on the surveys out of the courtroom while Weinstein was fired for a bathroom break.
Weinstein did not return on Wednesday and Lench then cleared the courtroom.
She had fired 11 potential jurors from the trial earlier on Monday.
The jury will not be finalized for two weeks.
Opening statements are scheduled for October 24, and the process is expected to take at least a few months.
Weinstein faces 11 crimes and a maximum of 140 years in this trial. He is accused of several sexual assaults against five women between 2003 and 2014 in Los Angeles.
The case comes at the same time as he is appealing his New York conviction and his 23-year sentence.
He insists he was never given a fair trial, given the unparalleled attention the charges have garnered against him.
Among the women expected to appear at the trial in LA is Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
She says she was raped by Weinstein in 2005, three years before she married her politician.
It will be the first time she describes their alleged meeting in detail.
She previously said she had “similar” experiences with Weinstein as his other accusers, but never gave more information about the 2005 incident.
Newsom and his wife left. She has never spoken extensively about her experience with Weinstein, but she is expected to take the stand. Right, Siebel Newsom in the 2008 movie April Fools Day
The Los Angeles Times on Monday, Siebel-Newsom first reported that Jane Doe is #4.
Weinstein is accused of raping her and forcing her into oral sex.
Elizabeth Fegan, her attorney, said: “Like many women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein during an alleged business meeting that turned out to be a trap.
“She plans to testify at his trial to seek some measure of justice for survivors and as part of her life’s work to improve women’s lives.”
Another of the accusers is Lauren Young, an actress and model who testified at his trial in New York.
Her attorney, Gloria Allred, confirmed to DailyMal.com that she would testify.
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 handle his aggressive advances,” she wrote at the time.
Weinstein, 70 – who is being held in LA’s infamous Twin Towers prison – pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges when he first appeared in court last July after being extradited from New York, where he was serving a prison term of 10 years. Serving 23 years for the rape and sexual assault of two women.
The charges against him in LA include rape, sexual assault, forced oral copulation and forced sexual penetration involving five unnamed women between 2004 and 2013.
And with more than 260 people on the prosecution’s witness list, the West Coast trial is expected to take up to two months.
At a preliminary trial last August, ex-film mogul’s attorney Mark Werksman tried to convince Judge Lisa Lench to postpone the trial. ‘jury bias’ against Weinstein.
She Said, which hits theaters November 18, stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who covered Weinstein in 2017.
And Werksman claimed that billboards, other advertisements and social media about the film will highlight the “gruesome and negative aspects of this case” and could influence a jury against his client.
But Judge Lench rejected Werksman’s request to postpone the trial until at least January in order to slacken publicity about the film.
“I don’t think there will be a time when there will be no media coverage of this case,” the judge told the court.