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Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's second criminal trial over the alleged sexual assaults of women, at least one occurring 18 years ago, is set to take place in Los Angeles this week. 

The start of the Los Angeles criminal trial comes five years after the first stories exposing his illicit actions against women were first published by 

. Those stories also helped the #MeToo movement expand, eventually taking down other powerful men in Hollywood and beyond.

 tied to his 2020 conviction in New York for charges of criminal sexual act and rape in the third degree. 

The Los Angeles trial is significant, however, as Weinstein is in the process of appealing his New York conviction. If found guilty, the Los Angeles verdict could add decades to his prison time. But if his New York appeal is successful, the Los Angeles verdict could be the only substantial reason he stays in prison.

 that he sexually assaulted women in separate incidents over a span of nearly a decade, a larger case than the one argued in New York.

 with sexual assault in Los Angeles in 2020 just as his New York trial was getting started.  He was eventually indicted in Los Angeles in July 2021 for four counts of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery by restraint and one count of sexual penetration by use of force. 

Weinstein allegedly raped a woman at a hotel between September 2004 and September 2005, 

. He is also facing accusations that he raped another woman on two separate occasions in November 2009 and November 2010 at a hotel in Beverly Hills. Weinstein is also accused of sexually assaulting another woman at a Beverly Hills hotel in May 2010 and charged with sexually assaulting two women during separate incidents in 2013.

Court case documents indicate the accusers will testify in court as "Jane Doe" number 1-5 to keep their identity under wraps.

Judge Lisa B. Lench has also allowed four additional women to testify as "prior bad acts" witnesses, 

Other witnesses the prosecutors hoped to use in their case, including Daryl Hannah and Rose McGowan, were excluded by Lench. 

had previously accused Weinstein of raping her

 in 1997. He denied her claims, though the two worked out a $100,000 settlement over the alleged incident. McGowan had attempted to sue Weinstein in a separate case, but that lawsuit 

The trial will take place at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles. It's expected to last eight weeks, 

No grand perp walk will happen in this trial as Weinstein remains behind bars. He will be kept in jail and brought to the courtroom for trial. 

In New York, Weinstein was seen by the media and hordes of protesters each time he arrived for his trial in Manhattan. 

Only 24 reporters, including two sketch artists, can be inside the courtroom each day, according to the AP. In New York, dozens were allowed inside to monitor the trial. 

Years before #MeToo, Weinstein dominated Hollywood

This second rape trial will be another reminder at just how far the former movie mogul has fallen. 

At his peak, Weinstein was highly influential in Hollywood thanks to his companies, Miramax and The Weinstein Company.

Movies produced or distributed by those companies were at one point nominated for more than 340 Academy Awards — winning 81 of them — 

 of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. 

published exposes into allegations that Weinstein had attacked dozens of women over several years. Allegations of this nature were often whispered about, even joked about, but never brought to light in this way before. 

This summer Weinstein was charged with assault in London related to an attack that occurred in 1996, 


Weinstein has never admitted any wrongdoing.



Arts and Culture

Crime, Law and Justice

Jaclyn Diaz

Author

Weinstein, a former Hollywood producer, is already serving his 23 year prison sentence doled out by a New York criminal court two years ago. 

Harvey Weinstein faces his next criminal trial in Los Angeles this week

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