Judge Drops 4 Charges in Harvey Weinstein Sex-Crimes Trial
CHIPPING AWAY?
Allegations involving Jane Doe 5 were axed from the L.A. case against the disgraced Hollywood producer, who still faces horrific allegations from four women.
A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday dropped four charges against Harvey Weinstein after prosecutors in his sex-crimes trial said they were not proceeding with allegations involving a woman referred to as Jane Doe 5. Before Los Angeles Superior Court jurors entered the courtroom, where Jennifer Siebel Newsom was set to face cross-examination, prosecutors revealed they did not plan to continue with Jane Doe 5’s case. Jane Doe 5 was set to testify that she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein in Nov. 2009 and 2010. After the revelation, Judge Lisa Lench accepted the defense’s request to drop the four criminal charges connected to those allegations—meaning that Weinstein, a convicted rapist in New York, now only faces 7 counts in L.A. Prosecutors allege that between 2003 and 2014, Weinstein sexually assaulted four Los Angeles women, Newsom among them.
