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Harvey Weinstein’s newest listening to in his sexual assault case was delayed Friday morning when a flood precipitated a lockdown on the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the Los Angeles jail the place the convicted rapist is presently behind bars.
“Only a routine delay,” one in all Weinstein’s attorneys, Mark Werksman, instructed members of the media who have been sitting within the courtroom.
“My shopper, on the payphone, remains to be in his cell,” Weinstein’s lawyer mentioned at 9:29 a.m., asking for an replace from the bailiff, who was on the cellphone with the jail, attempting to rearrange transportation for Weinstein to be escorted to the courthouse for the listening to.
“It’s my understanding,” Choose Lisa B. Lench started, “That there was a flood at Twin Towers the place Mr. Weinstein is housed. It’s now 9:40.”
The listening to was initially scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. It was the newest courtroom date, main as much as Weinstein’s long-awaited Los Angeles sexual assault and rape trial. Choose Lench pushed the listening to to Aug. 10 however first handled a number of issues relating to the protection’s subpoenas to witnesses.
Earlier this week, in another hearing for the case, Choose Lench dominated to restrict the quantity of data that could possibly be obtained by Weinstein’s protection workforce for the upcoming trial, approving the prosecution’s movement to quash subpoenas from 4 witnesses for his or her correspondence, together with private emails and texts courting way back to 2004 with one of many alleged victims. At that listening to, nevertheless, the choose mentioned she wouldn’t stop the protection from serving future subpoenas to victims and wouldn’t ask them to inform the prosecution prematurely of their makes an attempt to serve.
On Friday morning, discussions bought a bit heated with the prosecution objecting to Weinstein’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, who argued that the protection has the proper to subpoena witnesses with out giving superior discover to the prosecution.
“As a lot as Mr. Thompson would love us handy him our playbook, that’s not the regulation. We’re entitled to an investigation,” Jackson mentioned, talking of lead intercourse crimes prosecutor Paul Thompson, who argued the the protection’s subpoenas have been “vastly over-broad.”
“It can have the impact of harassing witnesses and the victims,” Thompson mentioned, explaining his objection.
The prosecution argued that Weinstein’s attorneys haven’t made “any distant try to slim the scope of what they’re asking for in what’s probably related on this case,” in order that if “one thing fully irrelevant” is requested of a witness of a sufferer, “we are able to’t unring the bell.”
“I don’t know whether or not they’re over-broad,” the choose instructed Jackson. “I don’t know as a result of I don’t know till I get paperwork. Sooner or later in time, there must be a chance for an objection to be made, if one is justified.”
Weinstein is scheduled to go on trial on Oct. 10 in L.A. He faces 11 costs of rape and sexual assault from 5 ladies.
In Could, the choose allowed prosecutors to name an extra 5 ladies to testify about their very own accusations towards the previous producer. Prosecutors had requested to be allowed to name 15 ladies, however the choose rejected 10 of them, together with all allegations previous to the 12 months 2000. Amongst those that weren’t permitted to testify have been Rose McGowan and Daryl Hannah, each of whom have leveled public accusations towards Weinstein.
The trial comes after nationwide courtroom delays through the pandemic, throughout which Weinstein has been in jail, to this point serving roughly 2.5 years of his 23-year sentence, after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in his New York trial in February 2020. A New York appeals courtroom not too long ago upheld that verdict in June, making certain that the disgraced Hollywood producer will keep behind bars, regardless of the end result of the upcoming L.A. trial.
Gene Maddaus and Maane Khatchatourian contributed to this report.
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