Harvey Weinstein Examines Jurors in Los Angeles Trial

• Harvey Weinstein took up his position again in the Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday.
• The first two days of the trial confronted the jurors directly until a deputy sheriff noticed.
• Weinstein’s lawyers focused on his appearance before and during the trial.

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Harvey Weinstein was taken to a different part of the Los Angeles courtroom after directly locking his eyes with the jurors for two days. The criminal is on trial for rape.

The infamous media mogul pleaded not guilty to 11 sexual assault charges in Los Angeles court on July 21, 2021, and his current case deals with the allegations of five women he has denied.

During his testimony Thursday, Weinstein moved in with his lawyers after county officials realized he was facing a jury – not allowed under Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department policy, according to Wrap. The department did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Earlier in the week, Weinstein tilted his wheelchair to face the jurors, according to the trial’s pool reports. On Wednesday, an LA County sheriff’s department deputy was reinstated after noticing Weinstein was seated incorrectly. Judge Lisa Lench allowed her lawyers to carry her next to her desks in her wheelchair.

According to Wrap, Weinstein’s legal team asked him to stay, citing difficulty moving his wheelchair and a lack of space on the defensive bench.

The sitting snafu follows a series of efforts by his defense to portray a particular image to the jury.

Before the trial, Weinstein’s lawyers said that their client’s health was deteriorating in a county jail. Last year, Weinstein’s lawyers asked him to undergo eye surgery and dental surgery, and during jury selection, the legal team said, he was worried about her dying.

In the opening debates, Weinstein’s lawyers asked jurors to think about his physical appearance, as they claimed that sex in Hollywood was a “meta” and was consensual for Weinstein.

“You’re going to learn that sex is a commodity in Hollywood,” Weinstein attorney Mark Werksman said on Monday. “It was the casting chair. Everyone did it. He did it. They did it. Because each one wanted something from the other.”

In a brazen moment, Werksman urged the jurors to take Weinstein’s stock to prove a point that Weinstein had access to Hollywood.

“Now look at him. He’s not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Do you think those beautiful women have sex with him because he’s sexy?” Werksman said during the opening arguments on Monday. “No. They did it because it was strong.”

On Thursday, Weinstein donned a gray suit and continued to stare at the jury and the observers behind them from his team’s bench.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in New York after a New York jury found him guilty of third-degree rape and forced sexual assault on two women in 2020, and could face another 135 years in prison if found guilty in Los Angeles.

Accusers allege that the events in the Los Angeles case took place in expensive Los Angeles hotels between 2004 and 2013.

Earlier this week, Jane Doe 1 claimed she was afraid Weinstein would kill her during an attack in 2013 during the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival. All five accusers, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, will testify in the trial, and many will use pseudonyms, according to the prosecution.