CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses rape and sexual assault.
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is due to face court for a re-trial after his 2020 conviction of third-degree rape was overturned in 2024.
On Wednesday, the re-trial for Weinstein’s 2020 case kicked off after prosecutors and Weinstein’s lawyers chose a sixth and final alternate for the jury.
The jury for the case now consists of five men, seven women and five alternate jurors who will step in if another jury member isn’t able to see the trial to the end.
According to The Guardian, the jury for the re-trial features people from a range of professions, including a dietician, a physics researcher, an investment bank software engineer, a fire safety officer, a photographer and people with experience in real estate, TV commercials and social work.
Prosecutors had to find people who could put their own feelings about the #MeToo movement aside for the trial.
“Is there anyone who is going to think of the movement and think: ‘Okay, that’s just something that I have to keep in the back of my mind when I’m deciding this case’? Everyone can put that aside?” prosecutor Shannon Lucey asked the group.
The re-trial of the rape and sexual assault charges against Weinstein will hear accusations from an aspiring actor who claims she was raped by the film producer in 2013, along with two women who allege Weinstein forced oral sex on them in 2006.
Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty. He vehmenantly denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone.
In case you need a refresher, back in 2020, former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape in a court case that kickstarted the #MeToo movement. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
However, in April 2024, the case was overturned by New York’s Court of Appeals after a seven-judge panel declared that the judge on the case, Justice James M. Burke, allowed three women to testify despite their allegations of assault not being part of the initial charges being discussed. This was a massive blow for not only Weinstein’s accusers but the #MeToo movement as a whole.
Although Weinstein’s 23-year sentence was overturned, he remained in prison for another 16-year sentence after being found guilty of rape in a Los Angeles court in 2022.
Weinstein has been diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and is undergoing treatment in his California prison for chronic myeloid leukaemia. He also underwent emergency heart surgery in September 2024.
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