A lawyer representing disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein complained Tuesday that he was being held in an “unsanitary, smelly” cell before being sent back to prison.
Before Judge Lisa B. Lench, attorney Mark Werksman said Weinstein was being held alone in his wheelchair for three to four hours in the “unsanitary” holding cell.
“The conditions are almost medieval,” said Werksman. “I am concerned about his health and his ability to survive this ordeal. He is 70 years old.”
“I’m concerned he will survive this ordeal without a heart attack or stroke,” he added, before requesting “special treatment” for Weinstein, whom he described as a “70-year-old man with underlying health conditions.”
Lench replied that she would “speak to MPs about it”.
“I’m not downplaying it, I’m just not sure there’s much left to do.”
She later told Werksman’s co-attorney, Alan Jackson, “They don’t have a lot of wheelchair trucks to pick him up when he’s ready.”
But Werksman didn’t give up, filing four doctor’s letters with the court and implying that Weinstein doesn’t even have access to a toilet where he’s being held.
However, Lench immediately dismissed the lawsuit, saying: “He is not deprived of a toilet, there is a toilet in the cell.
“I will not allow the record to reflect that he was denied a toilet. I won’t make the file look like he doesn’t have access to a toilet.’
At this point, Werksman seemed to go back on his original claim, saying he didn’t mean to imply there was no toilet.
Instead, he says the one provided is “unhygienic, it’s practically useless, it’s medieval”.
The exchange came as jury selection continued for Weinstein’s sexual assault trial in Los Angeles.
Twenty-six potential jurors have already been dismissed from the session for the trial, which is set to begin October 24, after Lench asked the jurors if they could be impartial – leaving 56 potential jurors able to return on Monday.
Weinstein can be seen in a court sketch as his attorney claimed the disgraced film mogul was being held in “unsanitary, smelly” conditions
Weinstein’s attorney also said he was “concerned for his health and his ability to survive this ordeal” while jury selection continued
Weinstein waved from his wheelchair in the courtroom yesterday but did not speak on the first day of jury selection
Of the 67 jurors called, 56 were admitted and 11 were dismissed by the judge
Speaking to prospective jurors on Tuesday, Lench noted that the case “has attracted some media attention and I understand that you may have received information about this case and about Mr. Weinstein in general before coming into this courtroom. ‘
“You must, you must not expose yourself to information about this case from now on,” she said.
“I’m sure everyone tries to make the information posted there as accurate as possible, but it doesn’t always happen that way. It’s important that you don’t let yourself be guided by what’s going on out there in the world.”
“If you think of something, don’t read it, don’t listen to it, don’t look for it.
“This takes so long until you’re excused. Once you’re excused as a jury, you can expose yourself to any information you want.’
The group had been pre-screened for their ability to take part in the process, which is expected to take months.
But they were asked in court on Tuesday to fill out a questionnaire about Weinstein’s reputation.
Afterward, Lench excused the 15 jurors and dismissed a handful of potential jurors still polling from the courtroom, while Weinstein was released for a bathroom break.
Weinstein never returned on Wednesday, and Lench then cleared the courtroom.
Earlier on Monday she dismissed eleven potential jurors from the trial.
The jury will be determined in two weeks.
The opening speech is scheduled for October 24 and the process is expected to take at least a few months.
Weinstein faces 11 crimes and a maximum of 140 years in this trial. He is accused of various sexual assaults against five women between 2003 and 2014 in Los Angeles.
The case comes at the same time he is appealing his New York conviction and 23-year sentence.
He insists he never received a fair trial given the unprecedented attention the allegations against him have received.
Among the women expected to make a stand in the LA trial is Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
She says she was raped by Weinstein in 2005, three years before she married her politician husband.
It will be the first time she details their alleged encounter.
She previously recounted “similar” experiences with Weinstein as his other accusers, but has never provided more information about the 2005 incident.
Newsom and his wife, left. She has never spoken at length about her experience with Weinstein, but is expected to take a stand. That’s right, Siebel Newsom in the April Fools Day 2008 movie
THE LOS ANGELES CLAIMS AGAINST WEINSTEIN
JANE DOE #1 – Unknown Italian actress
Forced Oral Copulation – February 18, 2013
Sexual penetration by foreign objects – February 18, 2013
Violent rape against the same woman on the same day – February 18, 2013
JANE DOE #2
Sexual Battery – February 19, 2013
JANE DOE #3
Sexual Violence Through Restraint – May 11, 2010.
“Weinstein unlawfully touched an intimate part of Jane Doe #3 while she was unlawfully held.”
JANE DOE #4 – Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Forced oral copulation – September 2005
Violent Rape – September 2005
JANE DOE #5
Forced oral copulation November – 2009
Violent Rape – November 2009
Forced oral copulation – November 2010
Violent Rape – November 2010
The Los Angeles Times first reported Monday that Siebel-Newsom is Jane Doe #4.
Weinstein is accused of raping her and forcing her to perform oral sex.
Elizabeth Fegan, her attorney, said: “Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at an alleged business meeting, which turned out to be a trap.
“She intends to testify at his trial to seek some degree of justice for the survivors and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women.”
Another accuser is Lauren Young, an actress and model who testified at his trial in New York.
Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, confirmed to DailyMal.com that she would testify.
Siebel Newsom first accused Weinstein of attacking her in a 2017 article for the Huffington Post.
“I was naive, new to the industry and didn’t know how to deal with his aggressive advances,” she wrote at the time.
Weinstein, 70, who is being held in LA’s notorious Twin Towers jail, pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges when he first appeared in court in July last year after being extradited from New York, where he is serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault on two women.
The LA charges against him include rape, sexual assault, forced oral copulation and forced sexual penetration involving five unnamed women between 2004 and 2013.
And with more than 260 people on the prosecution’s witness list, the West Coast trial is expected to last up to two months.
At a pretrial hearing last August, former film mogul Mark Werksman’s lawyer tried to persuade Judge Lisa Lench to postpone the trial, claiming that a “public firestorm” over the upcoming Brad Pitt-produced film She Said doing so could “prejudice the jury” against Weinstein.
She Said, which opens in theaters November 18, stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who wrote a 2017 reveal about Weinstein.
And Werksman claimed that billboards, other publicity, and social media about the strip could highlight the “lurid and negative aspects of this case” and sway a jury against his client.
But Judge Lench denied Werksman’s request to delay the trial until at least January so that publicity about the film dwindled.
“I don’t think there will be a time when there won’t be media coverage of this case,” the judge told the court.