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Some prospective jurors reacted with shock when they realized they might be selected for Mr. Weinstein’s latest trial. Opening statements lie ahead.
April 22, 2025Updated 3:06 p.m. ET
As the first day of jury selection for Harvey Weinstein’s trial began in Manhattan, about 70 prospective jurors shuffled into the courtroom and were asked to stand. As they were sworn in, the court clerk said Mr. Weinstein’s name and a woman gasped.
The judge dismissed more than half of that group after they said they had scheduling conflicts or that they could not be impartial in the trial of Mr. Weinstein, a Hollywood mogul whose name became synonymous with sexual abuse. And so went four days during which the judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys slowly winnowed nearly 300 people.
On Tuesday, for the second time in five years, a jury of 12 Manhattanites and six alternates was chosen to decide Mr. Weinstein’s fate.
The judge and lawyers sifted through dozens of people who displayed various degrees of shock, interest and opinion about Mr. Weinstein, whose fall amid accusations of sexual assault and harassment propelled the #MeToo movement.
Mr. Weinstein, 73, faces two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and one of third-degree rape after complaints by three women who said he assaulted them in 2006 and 2013.
He was convicted in 2020 of rape and criminal sexual act based on the complaints of two of the women and was sentenced to 23 years in New York prison. But his conviction was overturned last year and a new trial was ordered. In the interim, prosecutors added a new indictment.
