1 week Ago
Harvey Weinstein goes back on trial in New York this week in a redo of the #MeToo-era case in which the disgraced movie mogul was convicted of sexual criminal assault in the first degree and rape in the third degree, but acquitted on three other counts, including the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault. The legal drama begins with jury selection that is expected to last up to a week. It puts one of the biggest victories of the #MeToo era back in the courtroom just as a backlash against women's rights – from abortion access to the rise of controversial male influencers like Andrew Tate – unfolds across the US.
Weinstein's 2020 conviction was overturned in April last year after an appeals court ruled that the judge had unfairly allowed testimony against him from other women whose allegations were not part of the charges against him, with one of the panel, Judge Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, calling it "incredibly prejudicial". The new case against the 73-year-old producer will probably be an abridged version of the original case – a remake in movie terms – but with one crucial difference: it includes a new charge based on an allegation from a woman who was not part of the first prosecution. Additionally, Weinstein was convicted of rape in Los Angeles, which he is appealing in part over testimony from uncharged alleged assaults similarly to New York.
Weinstein continues to claim he is innocent, pleading not guilty to all charges brought against him. But all legal cases are colored by their time and place. Weinstein's high-powered legal team is betting that the five years on from the first trial, and nearly eight since the #MeToo movement exploded into the public consciousness with Ronan Farrow's explosive New Yorker account of Weinstein's alleged abuses, US attitudes toward high-profile cases such as this one may have changed.
"It's a social justice witch-hunt," Weinstein's publicist Juda Engelmayer told the Guardian last week. Weinstein himself has not..
. Edward Helmore.
