The producer of shakespeare in lovewhich once dominated Hollywood, faces trial on multiple counts of sexually assaulting five women between 2004 and 2013.
If convicted, Weinstein – who has pleaded not guilty to all charges – could be sentenced to another 140 years behind barsadditional to those already serving for sexual crimes committed in New York.
On the second day of his trial in Los Angeles, where the court is trying to narrow down a long list of potential jurors, his attorney Mark Werksman said the conditions in which Weinstein, who uses a wheelchair, is kept in his cell are “unsanitary.” and fetid”.
The conditions are almost medieval. I am concerned about your health and your ability to survive this ordeal.
“The conditions are almost medieval. I am concerned about his health and his ability to survive this ordeal … without having a heart attack or stroke,” Werksman told the court. “He is 70 years old.”
Judge Lisa Lench said she would speak with the sheriff’s deputies, who are in charge of Weinstein during his trial. “I’m not downplaying it. I’m just not sure there’s a lot to do,” Lench explained.
Jury selection is expected to take several days, ahead of a trial that could last two months.
Accusations of sexual harassment and abuse against Weinstein exploded in October 2017. His conviction in New York in 2020 was a watershed for the #MeToo movement.
In June, he lost an attempt to reverse these sex crime convictions. He has also been separately charged by British prosecutors with an indecent assault on a woman in London in 1996.
In all, nearly 90 women including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek have accused Weinstein of assault or harassment.
Weinstein claims all sexual encounters were consensualand his attorney told reporters that the Los Angeles allegations “are many years old” so they cannot be “corroborated by forensic evidence” or “credible witnesses.”