It's Tuesday. Harvey Weinstein's second sex crimes trial is underway in Los Angeles. Plus, more disturbing details emerge in the attack on Paul Pelosi. |
 | | Harvey Weinstein at the Clara Shortridge Foltz courthouse in Los Angeles last month.Pool photo by Etienne Laurent |
|
Every day last week during the beginning of Harvey Weinstein's rape trial, jurors, lawyers and spectators spilled out of elevators and onto the ninth floor of the hulking Clara Shortridge Foltz courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. |
Reporters and influencers slid into the back row of the gallery of Room 110 — among us were a true crime podcaster and a TikToker looking for an angle her followers would like. |
More than two years after he was convicted of rape and criminal sexual assault in New York, Weinstein, the former Hollywood producer whose downfall marked a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement, is facing a second sex crimes trial in Los Angeles. |
The trial was once seen as largely symbolic because Weinstein, 70, still has 21 years left to serve in prison after his 2020 conviction. But the stakes of the Los Angeles trial are higher following a recent decision by New York's highest court to allow Weinstein to appeal that conviction. |
I've been in the courtroom nearly every day since the trial began, as prosecutors try to detail a pattern of alleged sexual assaults of women, and Weinstein's lawyers counter that the sex was consensual and part of a Hollywood culture of "transactional sex." Weinstein, who has been accused by more than 90 women of sexual misconduct, faces 11 charges, including rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual battery by restraint. |
Last week, on Monday, the first day of the trial, Gloria Allred wore a pink mask one row in front of me. Tuesday, Lili Bernard, a Bill Cosby accuser, and two more survivors sat in solidarity with the women on the stand who testified they were assaulted by Weinstein. |
It was a busy week for Hollywood sex-crime charges in the same courthouse. Down the hall, the "That '70s Show" actor Danny Masterson was pleading not guilty to rape charges. On Tuesday, the "Scrubs" executive producer Eric Weinberg stood accused of 18 counts of sexual assault downstairs. |
The windowless courtroom for the Weinstein trial stayed mostly silent, as mandated by a stern bailiff who also monitored for forbidden gum chewing and cellphones. (One journalist was kicked out before anything started, on suspicion of phone use.) |
All we could hear was the scratch of the veteran court sketch artist Mona Edwards's pen on paper. Her work is iconic; if a celebrity has been on trial in Los Angeles, you've probably seen their portrait signed "Mona." |
Every morning, the bailiff wheeled in Weinstein in a suit and tie. He appeared drawn and pale. His lawyers said he is diabetic and nearly blind. |
For two days, he sat looking straight at the masked jury of nine men and three women until Judge Lisa Lench ordered him on Wednesday to sit beside his lawyers Mark Werksman and Alan Jackson and to focus his gaze elsewhere. |
Prosecutors seem to be largely relying on the strength of the accusers' testimonies. Weinstein's lawyers aren't holding back. |
In his opening statements, Werksman called Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom, "just another bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead," eliciting gasps from those seated in the courtroom. Siebel Newsom has not yet appeared but is expected to testify that she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein when she was an actress earlier in her career, according to her lawyer. |
When Jane Doe 1 recounted graphic details of her alleged 2013 rape, her hands trembled. She paused often and took slow, deep breaths. Lench ended the day early when Jane Doe 1 broke down sobbing. Two men on the jury teared up. |
The trial is expected to last several more weeks, and about 80 witnesses are scheduled to take the stand by its end. This early, it's particularly difficult to discern what testimony and which arguments are landing, especially with jurors' expressions largely cloaked by masks. |
Lauren Herstik is a Los Angeles-based reporter covering the Weinstein trial for The Times. |
 | | David Kim, center, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House in California, has faced attacks from his Democratic opponent, who has accused him of being a right-wing extremist.Alisha Jucevic for The New York Times |
|
If you read one story, make it this |
 | | Police officers closed a street near the Pelosi residence in San Francisco on Friday.Eric Risberg/Associated Press |
|
- Flooding: Hundreds of thousands of people in Los Angeles could experience at least a foot of flooding during a 100-year disaster, a new scientific study has found, highlighting the hazards of aging infrastructure in the city.
- Airport leak: Four workers were sickened by an accidental carbon dioxide leak at Los Angeles International Airport and one was left in a critical condition, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- Housekeeper protections: The Irvine City Council narrowly approved a new ordinance geared at protecting hotel workers and improving their working conditions, The Voice of OC reports.
|
- Storm coming: The biggest storm of the wet season so far is expected to begin on Tuesday, SFGate reports.
- Unusual union: A group of workers at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission theater in San Francisco announced that they aren't looking to settle on a collectively bargained contract, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
|
 | | Christopher Amitrano/CS8 Photo, Joseph Schell/Sotheby's International Realty, Kyle Murray |
|
For $2.4 million: A three-bedroom cottage in Santa Monica, a 1911 Edwardian house in San Francisco and a Spanish-style home in San Jose. |
 | | Lennart Weibull for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Victoria Granof. |
|
 | | A hiker along the mile-long boardwalk of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes National Wildlife Refuge in Oceano.Peter DaSilva For The New York Times 30094434A |
|
Today's tip comes from Kathleen McNeil, who recommends an attraction along the Central Coast: |
"The Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes are sweeping and beautiful. I've never seen more than 20-30 folks on the beach at any given time. Hike to Mussel Rock and you may see two or three folks — maybe none. And it's hard to imagine, but Cecil B. DeMille built the largest set in movie history in the Guadalupe Dunes for his silent film 'The Ten Commandments.' The movie 'The Lost City' documents this and the decades-long challenges to unearth the set. Some items have been recovered and are on display at a small museum in town." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
Have you visited any of the travel destinations that we've recommended in the newsletter? Send us a few lines about your trip and a photo! |
We'd like to share them in upcoming editions of the newsletter. Email us at CAToday@nytimes.com. Please include your name and the city in which you live. |
And before you go, some good news |
Michael Larrain is a man who loves to tell stories. |
Born and raised in Southern California, Larrain, 75, was a contract actor in his early 20s. "I had to buy a whole season of 'Gunsmoke' recently to see an episode I was in," he told The Press Democrat. "I was very impressed by my own hair." |
But the lifestyle was not fulfilling. So he headed north. |
He started his own roadside flower stand in Cotati, a small city in Sonoma County. Five days a week, occasionally fewer, occasionally more, Larrain sells bouquets out of the back of his car. |
While the profits are small, the job gives him infinitely more, he says. It gives him time. |
Time to read, time to write, time to think and dream. |
Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow. |
Soumya Karlamangla, Briana Scalia and Steven Moity contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment