Warning: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected.
Five years after Harvey Weinstein’s original #MeToo trial, a harsh estimate of one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, the former chief’s boss was again tried after the appeals court brought a landmark rape conviction.
The opening remark is scheduled for Wednesday’s trial and may take six weeks.
This happened with his first trial in the same Manhattan court building and two accusers who testified were expected to return.
But Weinstein’s retrial was different from the first cultural moment during the peak of the #MeToo movement. With alleged charges, he also faces additional charges from a woman who was not involved in the first case.
The jury calculated seven women and five men – unlike the seven, five women’s group, which was convicted in 2020 – and there was a different judge.
The #MeToo movement exploded in 2017 and the allegations against Weinstein developed and eliminated.
At the beginning of Weinstein’s first trial, the ode to the “rapist” can be heard from protesters outside.
TV trucks lined up in the streets, and journalists lined up for hours to sit in the packed courtroom. His attorney condemned the “carnival atmosphere” and failed to successfully hold the trial from Manhattan.
However, this time, within five days of the jury, there was no such thing as the jury.
These reality, and last year’s New York Court of Appeals ruling revoked his 2020 conviction and 23 years in prison – because the judge allowed testimony against Weinstein’s allegations, is everything from retrying legal strategies to the court’s atmosphere.
Facing new and new criminal sexual conduct charges
Weinstein, 73, was reconsidered on alleged criminal sexual acts charges of forcing oral sex on film and television production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, and in 2013, attacked alleged third-degree rape charges for allegedly aspiring actor Jessica Mann in a 2013 hotel room for assaulting aspiring actor Jessica Mann.
Weinstein also faces a criminal gender bill on alleged criminal sexual acts that forced oral sex in another woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006. Prosecutors said the woman, who has not been publicly named, appeared a few days before the first trial, but was not part of the case. They said they revisited her charges when his conviction was abandoned.
The Associated Press usually doesn’t identify the person who accused of sexual assault, as Hayley and Mann did unless they agree to be named.
Weinstein pleaded not guilty, denying rape or sexual assault on anyone. He acquitted of two of the worst charges in the 2020 trial – predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape – still standing.
Unnamed plaintiff attorney Lindsay Goldbrum said Weinstein’s retrial marks a “critical moment in fighting for the responsibility case in a case of sexual abuse and a “signal to other survivors that the system is catching up and deserves a shoutout even when the odds seem haunting. ”
This time, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Weinstein through its Special Victims Department, which specializes in homicide veterans serving as the 2020 version in homicides.
Meanwhile, Weinstein added several lawyers to his defense team, including Jennifer Bonjean, who was involved in his appeal for his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. She helped Bill Cosby overturn his beliefs and defend R. Kelly in his sexual crimes.
“This trial is not all about #MeToo. It’s going to be about the fact that happened,” Weinstein’s lead attorney Arthur Aidala recently said. “It’s important. It’s the way it should.”
But there are already some topics about #MeToo. A prosecutor asked potential jurors if they had heard of the movement. Most people say they have it, but that won’t affect them.
Others go further.
One woman believes that the result of #MeToo is “not enough”. One man explained that he had negative feelings about it because his high school classmates were wrongly accused of sexual assault.
Another man said he looked at #MeToo like other social movements: “It’s a swing. It’s a way, then waving the other way, and then settle down.”
None of them were on the jury.
If you are directly at risk or concerned about your own safety or the safety of others around you, call 911. For support in your area, you can find it through The In Crisis Lines and local services Ending the Violence Association of Canada Database.
