Weinstein threatened with jail time for using cellphone on Day 1 of trial
'Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life by texting and violating a court order?'
A New York judge threatened to jail disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for being on his phone during his first day of trial Tuesday, according to multiple reports from inside the courtroom.
“Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life by texting and violating a court order?” Judge James Burke said to 67-year-old Weinstein, shortly before jury selection was set to kick off his sexual assault trial.
The trial surrounds allegations that Weinstein raped one woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.
At least one Hollywood actress is expected to testify against Weinstein, and several other accusers have said they plan to attend the trial, which could last about four weeks once a jury is picked. And approximately 100 accusers have detailed their own allegations of sexual misconduct, according to The Cut.
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Actor Rose McGowan, right, speaks at a news conference as actor Rosanna Arquette, center left, listens outside a Manhattan courthouse after the arrival of Harvey Weinstein, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
In a report published Monday, actress Ashley Judd, who filed her own lawsuit against the producer in Los Angeles Superior Court, told The Cut that Weinstein’s “defiance and lack of humility remain intractable at this stage.”
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She added: “I would welcome someone who has aggressed who wants to learn and make it right.”
On Monday afternoon, L.A. County prosecutors announced they had charged Weinstein with forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint in connection to two separate instances that occurred over the course of as many days in 2013, according to a press release by the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors alleged on Feb. 18 of that year, he forced himself into an unidentified female victim’s hotel room and raped her. The next day, he allegedly sexually assaulted a different woman in a Beverly Hills hotel room.
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Tuesday’s New York court appearance began with Weinstein’s defense team asking for a “cooling-off period” because of the burst of publicity from the latest charges. Meanwhile, New York prosecutors requested Weinstein be jailed for the duration of the trial.
Burke denied both requests.
Harvey Weinstein arrives at federal court, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The jurist said he is confident the jury will understand Weinstein is presumed innocent, and the first 120 potential jurors were brought into the courtroom to fill out a questionnaire, the first step in a process that is expected to take weeks, given heavy news coverage of the case and the way the once-powerful movie studio boss has been cast as the archvillain of the #MeToo movement.
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Among the questions on the form: “If you have seen, read, or heard anything about the case, does that information affect your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?”
The judge estimated jury selection will take at least two weeks, with opening statements sometime after Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 20.
The Associated Press and Fox News' Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.
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