Prospective jurors excused from Weinstein retrial include actor who played Manhattan prosecutor

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Mark Axelowitz, an actor who plays a Manhattan prosecutor in Robert De Niro’s new movie The high knightsHe was one of the more than a dozen candidates who raised a hand when the judge asked if someone felt that he could not be impartial.

“I don’t like the guy, it’s a really bad guy,” Axelowitz told a journalist after being fired.

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in the Court for his new trial in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Pool through AP)

Another possible dismissed jury was disqualified because he had previously been sexually assaulted. Another wondered if someone could be impartial.

Weinstein is being tried again after the highest court in New York, the Court of Appeals, last year his 2020 sentence and his 23 -year prison sentence was overturned and ordered a new trial, finding that inappropriate decisions and the harmful testimony contaminate the original.

That ruling gave Weinstein a second chance to fight the charges, with his new judgment playing in an atmosphere different from his first judgment, which was held in the midst of a global calculation on inappropriate sexual behavior.

Weinstein, 73, who declared himself innocent and denies that he raped or sexually attacked anyone, is greater and more fragile, inside and outside the hospital regularly due to a variety of health problems. Now he is very far from when he was among the most powerful men in the film business.

Even if it is acquitted, it will not walk free.

Weinstein is also appealing a 2022 rape condemnation in Los Angeles. His 16 -year prison sentence in that case is still standing, although his lawyers said he needs to be forwarded because the conviction in New York has since considered his punishment calculated.

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in the Court for his new trial in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Pool through AP)

Weinstein is being withdrawn by two positions of his original judgment. He is accused of violating an aspiring actor in a hotel room in Manhattan in 2013 and performing an act of criminal sex by forcing oral sex in a film and television production assistant in 2006.

He is also accused of a criminal sex office based on an accusation of a woman who was not part of the original trial. That woman, who has asked not to publicly name her, claims that Weinstein forced oral sex in a Manhattan hotel.

Speaking outside the court on Tuesday, the lawyer of that accuser, Lindsay Goldbrum, said that one thing would become “clear” of the next testimony of his client in the trial: “This was not consensual. This was sexual aggression with force.”

“I am sure there will be justice in this case,” Goldbrum told journalists, adding that his client was resolved to testify.

“It is important for women everywhere and for people who are victims of sexual assault everywhere who wake the way and show their dedication in this fight against sexual assault.”

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in the Court for his new trial in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Pool through AP)

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

The judge, prosecution and defense will work to reduce a massive group of possible jurors to the 18 people, 12 jurors and six alternatives, necessary for the trial by asking questions and seeking to eliminate anyone they consider cannot judge the case fairly.

Selecting a jury will involve bringing around 80 potential jurors at the same time for two basic detection questions. The first group was brought on Tuesday morning (AEST from early Wednesday) after lawyers and defense prosecutors released some last -minute loose ends.

Together with the question about impartiality, the judge is also asking each group of possible jurors with a sample of any person who has work, family or other obligations that will prevent them from serving.

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in the Court for his new trial in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post through AP, Pool)

Anyone who raises a hand to any of the questions will be sent home, Farber said.

Those who remain will be seated in or near the jury’s box, 24 at the same time, and asked additional questions about things such as education, work and if anyone they know is in the application of the law or has been the victim of a crime.

Weinstein’s prosecutors and lawyers will each have 40 minutes to question each subset of 24 potential jurors. Often, lawyers will use that time to monitor the things raised in previous questions or concentrate on concerns about possible biases.

Anyway you can ask the judge to dismiss a possible jury. If too many jurors are dismissed, another group will be brought and the process will be repeated until the full jury is sitting.

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