Jury Seated for Harvey Weinstein Rape and Sexual Assault Trial
TIME FOR TRIAL
A 12-person jury has been selected in Harvey Weinstein’s trial for rape and sexual assault in Manhattan. After nine days of jury selection, prosecutors and defense lawyers have settled on 12 jurors and three alternates, who will determine if Weinstein, 67, is guilty of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape in connection with alleged assaults on his former production assistant in 2006 and another woman in 2013. Among the jury are seven men—six of them white—and five women.
Among the hundreds of potential jurors who showed up to Manhattan Supreme Court was supermodel Gigi Hadid, who was dismissed only minutes after arriving because both the defense and prosecutors “found her to be unsuitable,” even though she insisted she could be impartial. Throughout the process, lead prosecutor Joan Illuzzi argued that the movie mogul’s team sought to “systematically exclude” white women. Weinstein lawyer Damon Cheronis, however, argued that the prosecution was trying to exclude men from the jury.