An lawyer representing disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein complained on Tuesday that he’s being stored in an ‘unsanitary, fetid’ cell earlier than being introduced again to the jail.
Talking earlier than Choose Lisa B. Lench, lawyer Mark Werksman mentioned Weinstein is being held within the ‘unsanitary’ holding cell for 3 to 4 hours, alone in his wheelchair.
‘It’s virtually medieval, the circumstances,’ Werksman mentioned. ‘I’m involved about his well being and his skill to outlive this ordeal. He’s 70 years outdated.’
‘I’m nervous about him surviving this ordeal with no coronary heart assault or stroke,’ he added, earlier than asking for ‘particular remedy’ for Weinstein, whom he described as a ’70-year-old man with well being points.’
Lench replied that she’s going to ‘speak to the deputies about it.’
‘I’m not minimizing it, I’m simply unsure there’s rather a lot to be finished.’
She later advised Werksman’s co-counsel, Alan Jackson: ‘They don’t have an extra of wheelchair vans to come back choose him up when he’s prepared.’
However Werksman would not quit, submitting 4 medical doctors’ letters to the courtroom and suggesting that Weinstein does not even have entry to a rest room the place he is being held.
Lench, although, instantly dismissed the declare, saying: ‘He is not disadvantaged of a rest room, there is a bathroom within the cell.
‘I am not going to let the report mirror that he’s disadvantaged of a rest room. I’m not going to let the report appear to be he didn’t have entry to a rest room.’
At that time, Werksman appeared to return on his authentic declare, saying he did not imply to counsel there was no bathroom.
As a substitute, he says the one that’s offered is ‘unhygienic, it’s nearly unusable, it’s medieval.’
The change got here because the jury choice course of continued for Weinstein’s Los Angeles sexual assault trial.
Twenty-six potential jurors have already been dismissed from sitting for the trial, scheduled to start on October 24, after Lench requested the jurors whether or not they could possibly be neutral — leaving 56 potential jurors to return on Monday.
Weinstein is seen in a courtroom sketch as his lawyer claimed the disgraced movie mogul is being held in ‘unsanitary, fetid’ circumstances
Weinstein’s lawyer additionally mentioned he’s ‘involved about his well being and his skill to outlive this ordeal’ as jury alternatives continued
Weinstein waved from his wheelchair within the courtroom yesterday however didn’t communicate all through the primary day of jury choice
Of the 67 jurors introduced in, 56 had been allowed to proceed and 11 had been dismissed by the choose
Talking to the possible jurors on Tuesday, Lench famous that the case ‘has garnered some media consideration, and I perceive you’ll have obtained details about this case, and about Mr. Weinstein typically earlier than you got here into this courtroom. ‘
‘It’s possible you’ll not, it’s essential to not, expose your self from this level ahead to details about this case,’ she mentioned.
‘The knowledge that’s put on the market, I’m certain everybody makes an effort to be as correct as attainable, but it surely doesn’t all the time occur that manner. It’s vital that you simply not be guided by what goes on on the market on the earth.”
‘If one thing comes earlier than you, don’t learn it, don’t take heed to it, don’t search for it.
‘That lasts till such time as you might be excused. As soon as you might be excused as a juror it’s possible you’ll expose your self to any info that you simply select.’
The group had been pre-screened for his or her skill to serve on the trial, which is about to final for months.
However they had been required in courtroom on Tuesday to fill out a questionnaire about Weinstein’s repute.
After doing so, Lench excused the 15 jurors, and despatched a handful of potential jurors who had been nonetheless engaged on the surveys out of the courtroom whereas Weinstein was dismissed for a loo break.
Weinstein by no means returned on Wednesday, and Lench then cleared the courtroom.
She had beforehand dismissed 11 potential jurors from the trial on Monday.
The jury is not going to be finalized for an additional two weeks.
Opening statements are scheduled for October 24 and the trial is because of final a minimum of a couple of months.
Weinstein faces 11 crimes at this trial and a most of 140 years. He’s accused of varied sexual assaults in opposition to 5 ladies between 2003 and 2014 in Los Angeles.
The case comes concurrently he’s interesting his New York conviction and 23-year sentence.
He insists he has by no means obtained a good trial given the unparalleled consideration the allegations in opposition to him obtained.
Among the many ladies anticipated to take the stand on the L.A. trial is Gavin Newsom’s spouse, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
She says she was raped by Weinstein in 2005, three years earlier than she married her politician husband.
It is going to be the primary time she describes their alleged encounter intimately.
She beforehand advised of getting ‘related’ experiences with Weinstein as his different accusers, however has by no means given extra details about the 2005 incident.
Newsom and his spouse, left. She has by no means spoken at size about her expertise with Weinstein however is predicted to take the stand. Proper, Siebel Newsom within the 2008 film April Fools Day
The Los Angeles Occasions on Monday reported for the primary time that Siebel-Newsom is Jane Doe #4.
Weinstein is accused raping and forcing oral intercourse on her.
Elizabeth Fegan, her lawyer, mentioned: ‘Like many different ladies, my shopper was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported enterprise assembly that turned out to be a lure.
‘She intends to testify at his trial as a way to search some measure of justice for survivors, and as a part of her life’s work to enhance the lives of ladies.’
One other of the accusers is Lauren Younger, an actress and mannequin who testified at his New York trial.
Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, confirmed to DailyMal.com that she could be testifying.
Siebel Newsom first accused Weinstein of attacking her in a 2017 article for The Huffington Publish.
‘I used to be naive, new to the trade, and didn’t know take care of his aggressive advances,’ she wrote on the time.
Weinstein, 70 – who’s being held at LA’s infamous Twin Towers jail – pleaded not responsible to all 11 prices when he first appeared in courtroom in July final yr after being extradited from New York the place he’s serving a 23-year sentence for the rape and sexual assault of two ladies.
The LA prices in opposition to him embrace rape, sexual battery, compelled oral copulation and compelled sexual penetration involving 5 un-named ladies between 2004 and 2013.
And with greater than 260 folks on the prosecution’s witness record, the West Coast trial is predicted to last as long as two months.
At a pre-trial courtroom listening to final August, the ex-movie mogul’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, tried to steer Choose Lisa Lench to delay the trial, contending {that a} ‘firestorm of publicity’ in regards to the upcoming Brad Pitt-produced movie She Mentioned may ‘prejudice the jury’ in opposition to Weinstein.
She Mentioned, opening in theaters November 18, stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as New York Occasions reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor who wrote an expose on Weinstein in 2017.
And Werksman claimed that billboards, different promoting and social media in regards to the flick will spotlight the ‘lurid and destructive facets of this case’ and will affect a jury in opposition to his shopper.
However Choose Lench denied Werksman’s movement to postpone the trial until a minimum of January to permit publicity in regards to the film to die down.
‘I don’t assume there may be gong to be a time when there may be not media protection of this case,’ the choose advised the courtroom.
