Harvey Weinstein on trial again, facing sex assault charges in LA

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is on trial again, this time in Los Angeles where he faces more charges for using his position to sexually assault dozens of women.

Weinstein was indicted for sexually assaulting five women in separate incidents over the course of a decade in 2021. The victims will be allowed to testify as Jane Does in a trial that is expected to last six weeks. He faces 11 charges in total and has pleaded not guilty to all of them, including forcible rape and forcible oral copulation.

The trial opened Monday.

While the victims are allowed to testify under anonymity, at least one has made her allegations against the disgraced filmmaker publicly. In 2017, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker, actress and California's first lady, went public with her accusations that Weinstein sexually assaulted her between 2004 and 2005.

Actor and director Mel Gibson is also expected to testify. He said a woman told him about abuse she experienced from Weinstein in 2010. He was told this while at a massage appointment. The defense argued Gibson could not be unbiased because he and Weinstein have publicly feuded, and because of Gibson's repeated anti-Semitic remarks.

Nine women will testify against Weinstein, including some who testified in the New York case.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office announced its first set of charges against the producer and founder of Miramax Films in 2020.

Weinstein, 70, has been convicted in New York and sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.

If convicted in the Los Angeles case, Weinstein faces a potential life sentence. In August, he was granted a appeal of his New York conviction.