No jurors picked on first day of Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial

Some prospective jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s New York City rape retrial have made clear they could not be fair in judging the Hollywood mogul-turned-pariah.

As jury selection began on Tuesday, Mark Axelowitz, an actor who plays a Manhattan prosecutor in the new Robert De Niro film The Alto Knights, was one of more than a dozen candidates who raised a hand when the judge asked if anyone felt they could not be impartial.

“I don’t like the guy, he is a really bad guy,” Axelowitz told a reporter after being dismissed from consideration.

Another prospective juror disqualified herself because she had previously been sexually assaulted. Another wondered whether anyone could be impartial.

The first day ended with no one chosen for the panel of 12 jurors and six alternatives. Selection will resume on Wednesday.

Weinstein is being tried again after New York’s highest court last year overturned his 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial, finding that improper rulings and prejudicial evidence tainted the original one.

That Court of Appeals ruling gave Weinstein a second chance to fight the charges, with his retrial playing out in a different atmosphere than the first, which was held amid the global MeToo reckoning over sexual misconduct.

The 73-year-old has pleaded not guilty and denies he raped or sexually assaulted anyone. He is older and more frail, in and out of hospital regularly for a variety of health problems, and far removed from his time among the most powerful men in showbusiness.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said the ex-studio boss is “cautiously optimistic that when all the evidence is out, the jury will find that all of his relationships were consensual and therefore reach a verdict of not guilty”.

Even if he is acquitted, Weinstein will not go free.

He is also appealing against a 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. His 16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, though his lawyers said he needs to be resentenced because the since-vacated New York conviction factored into how his punishment was calculated.

Weinstein is being retried on two charges from his original trial. He is accused of raping an aspiring actress in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forcing oral sex on a production assistant in 2006.

He is also charged with one criminal sex act based on an allegation from a woman who was not a part of the original trial. That woman, who has asked not to be named publicly, alleges that Weinstein forced oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel.

Speaking outside court on Tuesday, that accuser’s lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said one thing would become “crystal clear” from her client’s evidence at the trial: “This was not consensual. This was sexual assault with force.”

“I am confident that there will be justice in this case. It is important for women everywhere and for people who are victims of sexual assault everywhere that others pave the way and show their dedication in this fight against sexual assault.”

Judge Curtis Farber has set aside at least four days for jury selection and expects opening statements and the start of evidence next week.