Harvey Weinstein trial: Seven men and five women selected as final jury
Opening statements expected next Wednesday
Seven men and five women have been selected to form the jury for Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial.
The 12 jurors were picked on Friday after an arduous two-week process, setting the stage for testimony to begin in the next week.
Just hours earlier, prosecutors had complained that the defence was allegedly trying to keep young women off the panel.
“They are systematically eliminating a class of people from this jury,” prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said.
The defence said it wasn’t specifically targeting young women, but didn’t want jurors who were too young to understand the way men and women interacted in the early nineties.
“That was a different time in New York and on planet Earth,” Weinstein attorney Arthur Aidala said.
Weinstein, 67, ambling out of the courthouse, didn’t comment when asked his thoughts on jury selection. “Ask Donna!” he said, referring to lawyer Donna Rotunno.
Three alternate jurors — one man and two women — were also seated. They will sit through the trial and take the place of any jurors on the main panel who can’t make it through to deliberations.
Weinstein is accused of raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
If convicted on the most serious charges against him, he could face life in prison.
Opening statements are expected next Wednesday. The trial could last about six weeks.
Additional reporting by agencies