NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� After years of , legal peril and prison, is again going on trial on a rape charge in New York City.
Jury selection started Tuesday in the onetime movie mogul’s latest retrial, where jurors will weigh 鈥� for the third time 鈥� whether he raped hairstylist and in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.
It’s a more streamlined proceeding than the array of allegations that were aired at Weinstein鈥檚 previous trials in New York and Los Angeles. The Oscar-winning producer denies all the accusations and this winter that he had 鈥渁cted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.鈥�
Still, the retrial is expected to last up to six weeks. Questioned about the length of the proceeding and whether they could be fair and impartial about the much-publicized case, more than 80 people asked to be excused during initial screening Tuesday morning. The day ended with no jurors chosen.
The process is scheduled to resume Wednesday with prospective jurors being questioned individually in private about their knowledge of the case and Weinstein. Wider-ranging questioning in court should follow eventually.
A surprise move from prosecutors
In a surprise move before jury selection began, prosecutors said they had a new piece of evidence 鈥� a remark that Weinstein allegedly made to a court officer six years ago.
According to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Candace White, the officer told prosecutors last week that he was present during Weinstein鈥檚 鈥� which was later overturned 鈥� and heard Weinstein say: 鈥淚f you had seen these girls, you would have done the exact same thing.鈥�
Weinstein鈥檚 lawyers urged Judge Curtis Farber to keep any mention of the supposed remark out of the upcoming retrial.
鈥淭his sounds far-fetched,鈥� defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said, also arguing that it emerged too late.
A subject that was explored in prior trials 鈥� a claims fund for women who said Weinstein sexually mistreated them 鈥� likely won’t come up again. The defense team doesn鈥檛 intend to raise the subject, Farber said.
A new defense team
Agnifilo and his partners in February, when longtime Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala stepped aside from the retrial to focus on the former studio boss鈥� appeals and civil matters. Both Aidala and Agnifilo are well-known New York defense attorneys, but their litigation styles differ. Aidala is folksy, while Agnifilo is more buttoned-up.
Weinstein wielded significant clout in the entertainment industry, having built his reputation on such critical and popular hits as 鈥淪hakespeare in Love,鈥� 鈥淧ulp Fiction鈥� and 鈥淐hocolat.鈥� He also became a .
Then a series of sexual harassment and sex assault allegations against Weinstein began to emerge in news media in 2017,
He was criminally charged in New York in 2018 and in Los Angeles two years later.
A tangled series of trials
Weinstein went to trial and was convicted of some 鈥� but not all 鈥� counts in both cases. His initial New York convictions spurring a retrial last year.
The retrial verdict was mixed: Weinstein was oral sex on production assistant and producer in 2006, but he was acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex on model-turned-psychotherapist . The jury didn鈥檛 decide on the rape charge involving Mann because the .
Mann has testified that she had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with the then-married Weinstein. But when he cornered her in a Manhattan hotel room where she was staying on a weekend getaway, she protested, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to do this,鈥� she told jurors. She said he kept making advances and demands until she 鈥渏ust gave up.鈥�
Weinstein hasn鈥檛 testified at any of his trials. His lawyers have contended that he never had non-consensual sex.
At his trials to date, the defense claimed that his accusers accepted his sexual overtures because they wanted his help in show business. The women said Weinstein dangled his Hollywood influence to attract and victimize them.
He’s appealing and is expected to appeal the New York conviction involving Haley. It carries in prison; no sentencing date has been set.
In this case, the rape charge is a lower-level felony punishable by up to four years behind bars. Weinstein, 73, already has served longer than that.
Weinstein has various health problems and uses a wheelchair. He in January that his 鈥渕ental state is collapsing鈥� in New York鈥檚 notorious .
The Associated Press generally does not identify people without their permission if they say they have been sexually assaulted. Haley, Mann and Sokola agreed to be named.
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