Will October be the month of reckoning? Trials for Spacey, Weinstein, Masterson, and Haggis begin
As covered in this post, Anthony Rapp's $40 million civil suit against Kevin Spacey began last week.
In addition, three more sexual assault trials are scheduled to begin this month:
The New York Times and New Yorker exposés about Harvey Weinstein were published five years ago this month so it seems fitting that Harvey Weinstein's latest trial is beginning. Jury selection for his Los Angeles trial began today and is expected to last two weeks. He has been charged with [sensitive content] four counts of rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, one count of sexual penetration by use of force, plus one count of sexual battery by restraint and sexual battery in incidents involving five women in L.A. County over a nine-year period. If convicted of all charges, he faces up to 140 years in prison.
Today, the victim previously listed as Jane Doe #4 was revealed to be documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California governor Gavin Newsom. She previously described the assault on the Huffington Post in October 2017 (the day after the New York Times article about Weinstein came out).
Prosecutors for this trial had previously been granted permission to call five supporting witnesses to testify against Weinstein (these five witnesses are not part of the LA lawsuit), one of whom is Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, the Italian model and actress who first reported Weinstein to the New York Police Department in 2015. At their request, she wore a wire and met with Weinstein again to get him to admit to the assault. Despite the audio confession she obtained, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office chose not to prosecute Weinstein for that incident, leading to widespread criticism after the Weinstein scandal finally broke two years later.
One of the other supporting witnesses, known in court documents as Miss L, decided she does not want to testify so prosecutors asked if they could replace her with another supporting witness, Lauren Sivan, who said that Weinstein masturbated in front of her in a New York restaurant. The judge denied this request, saying that Lauren's story was too similar to the other supporting witnesses' accounts.
Weinstein was already sentenced to 23 years in prison by a Manhattan jury in March 2020 for multiple sex crimes.
Danny Masterson's rape trial is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles tomorrow. He has been charged with three counts of [sensitive content] forcible rape that allegedly occurred in 2001 and 2003 at his Hollywood Hills home. If convicted of all counts, the maximum sentence Masterson could receive is 45 years to life in state prison. He's currently out on $3.3 million bail.
The case has been delayed for three years because the Church of Scientology wanted the civil side of this suit to be handled in a church-run arbitration process. The church appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that the case would be handled in civil court.
In addition, four of Masterson’s accusers have filed a civil lawsuit against him and the Church of Scientology for the alleged cover-up, reportedly perpetrated via stalking and harassment.
Crash director and former Scientologist Paul Haggis' trial begins in New York City on October 17. Film publicist Haleigh Breest filed a suit in 2017 that said Haggis assaulted her in 2013 after the two attended the premiere of the film Side Effects. He countersued claiming that she was trying to bankrupt him. The trial has also been delayed due to COVID. Three other women have come forward with sexual assault accusations. His lawyers are trying to prevent them from testifying at his civil trial.
During pretrial motions, his defense attorney wanted to bar one of the prosecution's expert witnesses, a clinical and forensic psychologist who will present a psychological evaluation of Haleigh. Their argument is that her testimony “regarding the plaintiff’s conduct should be excluded as unreliable because it is based on plaintiff’s own descriptions of her alleged behavior.” The defense's other pretrial motions were a request to have the jury visit his apartment (where the assault allegedly took place) and to have the defense conduct a psychological evaluation of Haleigh. The judge denied all three motions.
Fellow former Scientologists Leah Remini and Mike Rinder have defended Haggis, claiming that the church is after him. He was recently placed under house arrest in Italy for sexually assaulting a woman he met at the Monte Carlo Film Festival.
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mods: no pic for this post because I don't want anyone to have to look at these men's faces
In addition, three more sexual assault trials are scheduled to begin this month:
The New York Times and New Yorker exposés about Harvey Weinstein were published five years ago this month so it seems fitting that Harvey Weinstein's latest trial is beginning. Jury selection for his Los Angeles trial began today and is expected to last two weeks. He has been charged with [sensitive content] four counts of rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, one count of sexual penetration by use of force, plus one count of sexual battery by restraint and sexual battery in incidents involving five women in L.A. County over a nine-year period. If convicted of all charges, he faces up to 140 years in prison.
Today, the victim previously listed as Jane Doe #4 was revealed to be documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California governor Gavin Newsom. She previously described the assault on the Huffington Post in October 2017 (the day after the New York Times article about Weinstein came out).
Prosecutors for this trial had previously been granted permission to call five supporting witnesses to testify against Weinstein (these five witnesses are not part of the LA lawsuit), one of whom is Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, the Italian model and actress who first reported Weinstein to the New York Police Department in 2015. At their request, she wore a wire and met with Weinstein again to get him to admit to the assault. Despite the audio confession she obtained, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office chose not to prosecute Weinstein for that incident, leading to widespread criticism after the Weinstein scandal finally broke two years later.
One of the other supporting witnesses, known in court documents as Miss L, decided she does not want to testify so prosecutors asked if they could replace her with another supporting witness, Lauren Sivan, who said that Weinstein masturbated in front of her in a New York restaurant. The judge denied this request, saying that Lauren's story was too similar to the other supporting witnesses' accounts.
Weinstein was already sentenced to 23 years in prison by a Manhattan jury in March 2020 for multiple sex crimes.
Danny Masterson's rape trial is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles tomorrow. He has been charged with three counts of [sensitive content] forcible rape that allegedly occurred in 2001 and 2003 at his Hollywood Hills home. If convicted of all counts, the maximum sentence Masterson could receive is 45 years to life in state prison. He's currently out on $3.3 million bail.
The case has been delayed for three years because the Church of Scientology wanted the civil side of this suit to be handled in a church-run arbitration process. The church appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that the case would be handled in civil court.
In addition, four of Masterson’s accusers have filed a civil lawsuit against him and the Church of Scientology for the alleged cover-up, reportedly perpetrated via stalking and harassment.
Crash director and former Scientologist Paul Haggis' trial begins in New York City on October 17. Film publicist Haleigh Breest filed a suit in 2017 that said Haggis assaulted her in 2013 after the two attended the premiere of the film Side Effects. He countersued claiming that she was trying to bankrupt him. The trial has also been delayed due to COVID. Three other women have come forward with sexual assault accusations. His lawyers are trying to prevent them from testifying at his civil trial.
During pretrial motions, his defense attorney wanted to bar one of the prosecution's expert witnesses, a clinical and forensic psychologist who will present a psychological evaluation of Haleigh. Their argument is that her testimony “regarding the plaintiff’s conduct should be excluded as unreliable because it is based on plaintiff’s own descriptions of her alleged behavior.” The defense's other pretrial motions were a request to have the jury visit his apartment (where the assault allegedly took place) and to have the defense conduct a psychological evaluation of Haleigh. The judge denied all three motions.
Fellow former Scientologists Leah Remini and Mike Rinder have defended Haggis, claiming that the church is after him. He was recently placed under house arrest in Italy for sexually assaulting a woman he met at the Monte Carlo Film Festival.
1 2 3 4 5
mods: no pic for this post because I don't want anyone to have to look at these men's faces