Harvey Weinstein sued by ex-teen model who claims he forced her to touch his penis

Harvey Weinstein struck out in his attempt on Thursday to get a new judge assigned to his rape trial in New York.

Harvey Weinstein wants the judge overseeing his New York trial for rape and sex assault removed from the case after the producer was threatened with jail for using his cell phone.

By Dominic Patten

A New York judge threatened Harvey Weinstein with jail on Tuesday (07Jan20) after flouting court rules to use his cell phone during his trial for rape and sexual assault.

Considering the long list of allegations levelled against Harvey Weinstein, it is proving hard to find jurors who could look at the case impartially. The disgraced Hollywood producer’s New York trial has already hit the first rock.

Harvey Weinstein’s New York trial just got underway, but it’s already proving hard to find potential jurors who don’t think they movie mogul’s guilty. Thanks to wall-to-wall media coverage, most people have heard about the dozens of women who have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct or assault. That’s making it difficult to find a bench of 12 jurors and six alternates willing to enter the trial with a presumption of innocence.

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers struck out in their efforts to convince a New York judge to delay his trial after new charges were filed against the movie producer in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles prosecutors charged Harvey Weinstein on Monday (Jan. 6) with sexually assaulting two women on successive nights during Oscars week in 2013, bringing the new case against the disgraced Hollywood mogul on the eve of jury selection for his New York trial.   

Harvey Weinstein arrived in a Manhattan court Monday for the start of his sexual assault trial, more than two years after The New York Times and The New Yorker published explosive reports detailing sexual harassment, assault, and rape allegations. The disgraced Hollywood mogul has now been accused of misconduct by over 80 women, which ignited the #MeToo movement to expose predatory men in power men and led to the formation of Time's Up.

The first journalists lined up at 4 a.m., some four hours before the doors of the New York County Supreme Court building opened Monday morning and five-and-a-half hours before Harvey Weinstein entered a courtroom for day one of his first criminal trial.Temperatures in New York were in the mid-30s as the more than 150 journalists who have been credentialed to cover the trial waited for their chance to get inside. "This fucking blows," one veteran news producer in line said to another.

Harvey Weinstein is expected to be in a New York court on Monday as his lawyers and a judge handle the final preparation for his trial on charges of rape and sexual assault.

Harvey Weinstein has said he believes he can “rebuild” his career in Hollywood if a jury clears him on charges of predatory sexual assault, a criminal sexual act, first-degree rape and third-degree rape.

Harvey Weinstein will enter 2020 with another sex assault probe hanging over him.

Harvey Weinstein is set to go on trial next month in New York on charges of rape and sexual assault. But no matter how that case turns out, he will still face criminal jeopardy in Los Angeles.