Harvey Weinstein to Go on Trial in Los Angeles

Image Source: LA Times

Harvey Weinstein will go on trial on Monday in a Los Angeles court, where he is facing 11 further charges of abuse.

The 70-year-old movie producer is currently serving 23 years in jail in New York, after being convicted there of assaults.

The latest charges include allegations of assault against women in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles hotels from 2004 to 2013, which he has denied.

Jury selection for the expected two-month trial is set to begin on Monday.

The Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction producer claims his encounters were consensual, and his lawyer told the press the latest round of West Coast allegations “stem from many years ago” and cannot “be substantiated or corroborated by any forensic evidence” or “credible witnesses”.

If convicted, the former filmmaker could face 140 additional years behind bars.

His conviction in New York in 2020 was a landmark moment for the #MeToo movement, which had been calling out widespread abuse and harassment in the film industry for several years.

Stars including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek all accused Weinstein of assault or harassment.

The New York Film Festival will this week premiere She Said, a movie about the 2017 newspaper investigation into Weinstein.

In June, it was revealed he was also to be charged with two counts of indecent assault against a woman in London in the summer of 1996.

Source: BBC News