This article contains references to sexual assault and rape.
Five years after Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and taken to jail in handcuffs, the former movie mogul is returning to court for a fresh trial covering the same allegations — plus one that hasn't been tried before.
The trial comes a year after a New York appeals court overturned the landmark #MeToo verdict. The court threw out Weinstein's convictions and 23-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial after finding the original one was tainted by "egregious" judicial rulings and prejudicial testimony.
Jury selection started on Tuesday, with opening statements and testimony expected next week.
Judge Curtis Farber said in addition to 12 jurors, six alternates will be picked. Prosecutors expect the retrial to last a month.
Weinstein, 73, faces charges involving two women from his original trial in 2020, Jessica Mann and Miriam Haley, and he's being tried for the first time on an allegation from a woman who wasn't in the first case. He has pleaded not guilty and denies that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
Weinstein is being retried on two charges from his original trial: one count of criminal sex act for allegedly forcibly performing oral sex on a movie and TV production assistant in 2006 and one count of third-degree rape for allegedly assaulting an aspiring actor in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.
Haley, a former production assistant on the Weinstein-produced Project Runway, testified at the 2020 trial that he pushed her onto a bed at his Manhattan apartment in June 2006 and forced oral sex on her.
Mann, who said she saw Weinstein as a "pseudo father" figure as she pursued an acting career after a rough upbringing, testified at the 2020 trial that he trapped her in a hotel room in March 2013, ordered her to undress as he loomed over her, and then raped her. She alleges Weinstein raped her again eight months later at a Beverly Hills hotel, where she worked as a hairdresser.
Weinstein is also charged with one count of criminal sex act for allegedly forcing oral sex on a different woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006. That woman, who was not part of Weinstein's first trial, has not been named publicly.
Prosecutors said the woman came forward to them just days before the start of Weinstein's first trial but was not part of that case.
Weinstein's lawyers contend prosecutors shouldn't have waited nearly five years to bring the additional charge.
In the 4-3 decision in favour of Weinstein last year, New York's Court of Appeals said then-Judge James Burke had denied Weinstein a fully fair trial by letting three women testify about allegations that weren't part of the case and his decision to let prosecutors confront Weinstein, if he had testified, over his history of brutish behaviour.
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