By ANDREW DALTON | Related Press
LOS ANGELES — Jurors within the trial of Harvey Weinstein will likely be allowed to listen to that Jennifer Siebel Newsom, spouse of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, emailed the film magnate for recommendation about coping with the media amid a scandal involving Gavin Newsom two years after Weinstein allegedly raped and sexually assaulted her, a choose dominated Monday.
The choose granted slender permission to the protection to introduce proof of the e-mail despatched to Weinstein in 2007, when Gavin Newsom was mayor of San Francisco and was courting Siebel Newsom.
However Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Choose Lisa B. Lench forbid the protection from discussing the underlying concern behind the e-mail — the revelation of an affair Newsom had had in 2005 with an aide. Lench referred to as it “too tangential in relation to this trial.”
Weinstein legal professional Mark Werksman argued adamantly for the inclusion of the main points.
“Of all belongings you’d suppose a lady that's raped by Harvey Weinstein wouldn’t do, it’s ask him tips on how to cope with a intercourse scandal,” Werksman mentioned.
Deputy District Lawyer Marlene Martinez responded: “I’m unsure how Mr. Werksman is aware of” how a rape sufferer would behave.
“They don't react in a matter how somebody who has not been raped would suppose,” Martinez mentioned.
Werksman argued that the contents of the e-mail are important, saying that for Siebel Newsom and the opposite accusers within the trial, the facility dynamic with Weinstein was important.
“When her boyfriend the mayor seduces an underling’s spouse and will get scandalized over it,” she sides with the mayor,” he mentioned, and steered it was important to Weinstein’s rights that the choose permit that line of questioning.
The choose steered the legal professional was overstating the case by saying Weinstein’s due course of was at stake.
“Very dramatic, Mr. Werksman,” Lench mentioned.
Werksman replied, “Forgive the melodrama your honor.”
Weinstein is charged with raping Siebel Newsom at a Beverly Hills lodge in 2004 or 2005.
In all, he's charged with 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving 5 girls. He's already serving a 23-year jail sentence for a rape and intercourse assault conviction in New York.
Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actor, started courting Gavin Newsom in 2006, and married him in 2008. He was elected governor in 2018.
The choose additionally dominated that the prosecution may play for jurors a secret recording that one other forthcoming witness within the trial, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, made from Weinstein at the side of New York police in 2015. Within the recording, Weinstein apologized for his conduct in a earlier assembly, the place she mentioned he had touched her thigh and grabbed her breasts.
Police investigated the incident, however prosecutors introduced no prices — a call that got here beneath scrutiny in 2017 when a wave of allegations towards Weinstein gave gas to the #MeToo motion.
“It appears to me that to the extent that it constitutes an admission, that it's admissible,” the choose mentioned.
Deputy District Lawyer Paul Thompson mentioned he may play only a quick excerpt from the recording, however after a dialogue with the protection, the 2 sides agreed he ought to play all 43 minutes of it.
Gutierrez, an Italian mannequin, is considered one of 4 girls who've been allowed to testify on the trial about being sexually abused by Weinstein, although their allegations will not be amongst these he's charged with.
The Related Press doesn't usually title individuals who say they've been sexually abused until they've come ahead publicly, as Gutierrez has carried out.
Siebel Newsom’s identification was first reported by the Los Angeles Instances, and her legal professional has instructed the AP and different information retailers that she is among the many girls Weinstein is charged with sexually assaulting who will testify throughout the trial.
After a day and a half of arguing motions on what proof will likely be heard throughout the trial, together with one wherein actor-director Mel Gibson was accepted as a prosecution witness, the choose and jurors resumed jury choice within the afternoon.
Siebel Newsom got here up once more throughout the course of.
“What if I instructed you that the governor’s spouse goes to be a type of witnesses?” Weinstein legal professional Alan Jackson requested the jury panel. “By the way in which she will likely be.”
The jury panel already knew this from the juror questionnaire they stuffed out final week.
When requested if their opinion of the governor or his spouse would have an effect on their judgment, none mentioned it could.
At the least 5 jurors mentioned that they had by no means heard of the #MeToo motion when requested by Thompson.
Views have been blended on the motion amongst those that had sturdy emotions.
“I imagine within the female voice being outspoken,” one lady mentioned.
One other lady mentioned she didn’t have a lot respect for many who determined that “after 10 years, ‘oh this occurred to me too.’”
“I believe they’re on the lookout for their quarter-hour of fame,” she mentioned.
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Comply with AP Leisure Author Andrew Dalton on Twitter: twitter.com/andyjamesdalton