Jennifer Siebel Newsom, an actor and documentary filmmaker who is married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, is among the accusers of Harvey Weinstein who will testify at his rape and sexual assault trial that began this week, according to her attorney.
“Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap,” Newsom’s attorney Elizabeth Fegan said in a statement.
“She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors, and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women.”
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker, former actress and the wife of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is set to testify in the second sex crimes trial of Harvey Weinstein, which is underway in Los Angeles. She has accused Weinstein of sexual assault.https://t.co/3YTCnhhiO9
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 11, 2022
One of the women who will take the stand to accuse Weinstein of assaulting her is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, The Times has learned.
https://t.co/iLp4d5SmOO— katie rosman (@katierosman) October 11, 2022
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actor who is married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, is among the accusers of Harvey Weinstein who will testify at his rape and sexual assault trial that began Monday, her attorney said. https://t.co/OTHGUD5cwj
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 11, 2022
From the Los Angeles Times:
Weinstein faces 11 counts of sexual assault stemming from allegations by five women that he abused them in high-end Westside hotels between 2004 and 2013. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 135 years to life, prosecutors said. Jury selection, which is expected to last two weeks, begins Monday.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office initially charged Weinstein in early 2020, but the criminal proceedings were put on hold until the completion of the onetime mogul’s New York trial.
Weinstein has repeatedly denied assaulting any women and insisted all of his encounters with his accusers were consensual.
Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by several dozen women since 2017, when reports in the New Yorker magazine and the New York Times helped ignite a national reckoning over sexual abuses committed by powerful men. The list of actresses and artists who have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing includes Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong’o, Ashley Judd, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The upcoming Los Angeles trial will feature testimony from well-known figures, said Mark Werksman, one of Weinstein’s defense attorneys.
“Some of these victims, people will recognize them. Some of these women, you’ve seen them in movies, they’ve been in ad campaigns, a couple of them have achieved some success as actresses or models,” Werksman said.
The Associated Press said they do not normally name people who say they’ve been sexually abused, but Newsom agreed to be named through her attorney.
More info from AP:
Newsom, 48, appeared in small roles in dozens of films and television shows between 2002 and 2011. Recently she has directed documentaries including “The Great American Lie” in 2020 and “Fair Play” from this year. Both deal with gender in society.
She wrote about her experience with Weinstein in a 2017 essay in the Huffington Post after the New York Times and New Yorker stories made him a magnet of the #MeToo movement, but gave few details.
Weinstein, who is being held in a Los Angeles County jail, was brought Monday into court in a wheelchair through a side door, and climbed from it carefully into a seat next to one of his lawyers at the defense table. He was wearing a blue suit, which he is allowed to change into from his jail attire during the trial.
He stood with the rest of the room as the first panel of 67 prospective jurors were brought in, but sat down about halfway through the process. He waved at them from his seat when his lawyers introduced them.
The jurors were given a lengthy questionnaire intended to screen out those who need to be dismissed. Both the questions and answers on the forms are private, but previous hearings on its contents revealed that it contains questions on how much media coverage of Weinstein they have seen, and whether they have formed opinions from it, though the judge rejected questions on specific stories and media outlets.
The prosecution will be allowed to introduce as evidence parts of Weinstein’s conviction for rape and sexual assault, where the state’s highest court has agreed to hear his appeal.
The questionnaire also includes a question about a California law that says the testimony alone of a sexual assault victim can be sufficient evidence to convict if a juror believes them.
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