Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actor who’s married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, is among the accusers of Harvey Weinstein who will testify at his rape and sexual assault trial that started Monday, her legal professional stated.
“Like many different ladies, my shopper was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported enterprise assembly that turned out to be a lure,” Newsom’s legal professional Elizabeth Fegan stated in a press release. “She intends to testify at his trial in order to hunt some measure of justice for survivors, and as a part of her life’s work to enhance the lives of girls.”
Weinstein, the 70-year-old former film mogul who’s serving a 23-year jail sentence after a conviction in New York, has pleaded not responsible to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving Newsom and 4 different ladies. All of them will testify as Jane Doe in the course of the eight-week trial in a Los Angeles courtroom, the place jury choice started Monday.
The Associated Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they have been sexually abused, however Newsom agreed to be named by way of her legal professional.
The information of her involvement was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.
Wrote about expertise in 2017
Newsom, 48, appeared in small roles in dozens of movies and tv reveals between 2002 and 2011. Recently she has directed documentaries together with The Great American Lie in 2020 and Fair Play from this yr. Both cope with gender in society.
She wrote about her expertise with Weinstein in a 2017 essay in the Huffington Post after the New York Times and New Yorker tales made him a spotlight of the #MeToo motion, however gave few particulars.
Weinstein, who’s being held in a Los Angeles County jail, was introduced Monday into courtroom in a wheelchair by way of a facet door, and climbed from it rigorously right into a seat subsequent to one in all his legal professionals on the defence desk. He was carrying a blue swimsuit, which he’s allowed to vary into from his jail apparel in the course of the trial.
He stood with the remainder of the room as the primary panel of 67 potential jurors have been introduced in, however sat down about midway by way of the method. He waved at them from his seat when his legal professionals launched them.
WATCH | Why this trial may very well be trickier than his earlier one:
Harvey Weinsten is again in courtroom as he faces 11 sexual assault expenses towards 5 ladies in Los Angeles. The alleged offences have been stated to have occurred between 2004 and 2013.
Prosecution allowed to deliver up different convictions
The jurors got a prolonged questionnaire meant to display screen out those that should be dismissed. Both the questions and solutions on the types are non-public, however earlier hearings on its contents revealed that it accommodates questions on how a lot media protection of Weinstein they’ve seen and whether or not they have shaped opinions from it, although the choose rejected questions on particular tales and media retailers.
The prosecution will probably be allowed to introduce as proof elements of Weinstein’s conviction for rape and sexual assault. New York’s highest courtroom has agreed to listen to his enchantment.
The questionnaire additionally features a query a couple of California regulation that claims the testimony alone of a sexual assault sufferer may be enough proof to convict if a juror believes them.
The jurors have been additionally given a protracted listing of names of witnesses in the approaching trial, together with these of the accusers to find out whether or not they have any connection to them. The preliminary witness listing in the case had greater than 270 names, although fewer than half which are anticipated. Most of the potential witness listing has not been made public.
One witness, Barbara Schneeweiss, a producer on Project Runway and different tv reveals, was current in courtroom early Monday and was informed by a choose she was on name to return in at any time.
Two extra panels of as much as 75 jurors will probably be introduced in Tuesday and Wednesday. Questioning of particular person jurors just isn’t anticipated to start till subsequent week, and opening statements might not start for 2 weeks.
The trial comes 5 years after ladies’s tales about Weinstein made the #MeToo motion explode.
Weinstein is charged with 4 counts of rape and 7 different sexual assault counts.
Most of the incidents in his indictment, like Newsom’s, allegedly occurred underneath the guise of enterprise conferences at luxurious resorts in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, which Weinstein used as his California headquarters and the place he may very well be seen throughout awards season and all year long. Four of them allegedly occurred throughout Oscars week 2013, when Weinstein launched Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained would win Academy Awards.