It is reported that former film producer Harvey Weinstein has gone on trial in Los Angeles on sexual assault charges.
The 70-year-old convicted rapist is facing 11 further charges of abuse and has been indicted on four counts of rape and seven counts of sexual assault of five women who will all testify in court as Jane Does, as reported by the Associated Press.
The movie mogul is already serving 23-year sentences for his convictions for rape and sexual assault in New York. The recent sexual assault charges allegedly happened in Los Angeles hotels between 2004 and 2013. Weinstein pleaded not guilty.
Jury selection which started on Monday is believed to be held in about two weeks. It is reported that five victims are expected to take the stand during the course of the trial.
Four more women will testify that the former producer also sexually assaulted them, in addition to the five women whose cases are being heard, although those assaults did not lead to charges. Weinstein’s conviction in New York in 2020 was a landmark moment for the #MeToo movement.
The movement called out widespread sexual abuse and harassment in the film industry for many years.
In another case, The Ranch actor Danny Masterson is facing three charges of forcible rape and if he is found guilty, he will be facing 45 years to life in prison.
Elvis Presley’s daughter and ex-Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley will testify in Masterson’s sexual assault trial. She will be a witness in court, according to the prosecution who notified the actor’s defence team. Presley’s testimony could flip Masterson’s case.
Judge Charlaine Olmedo denied on October 4 Masterson’s plea to delay the case over LA mayor hopeful Rick Caruso’s anti-Scientology ads and ruled the trial to begin on October 11.
It is reported that Presley was a friend of one of Masterson’s accusers identified as Jane Doe 1. Jane referred multiple times to “Lisa” as a friend, during her testimony at the preliminary hearing in 2021.
“My friend Lisa had someone named Luke who lived and worked with her who was close to Danny…Luke Watson,” Jane Doe 1 testified. Presley and Watson dated from 1998 to 1999. They also knew Masterson and Doe.
During her testimony, Doe claimed that Masterson forcibly raped her on April 25, 2003, after she felt sick in a hot tub with both Watson and ‘The Ranch‘ actor. She testified that she told the boys that she was feeling “sick to her stomach and wanted to throw up.”
And surprisingly the boy started arguing. “It’s better that I do it, really,” Watson told Masterson, to which he replied “Oh my God, dude. She is my homie. I wouldn’t. I would never,” and took her to the washroom upstairs.
Jane Doe 1 claimed Masterson stuck his finger deep down her throat and helped her throw up before sexually assaulting her. She also noted that Masterson begged her to not tell anyone about the incident including her friend Lisa Marie.
“When I first came to, he was saying, ‘It’s good. You like this. I’ll tell you what you’re not going to do. You — you can do this any time. But you’re not going to tell f*****g Paige. You’re not going to tell f*****g Lisa. You’re not going to f*****g tell anybody,'” the survivor testified.
Sex and the City star Chris Noth was also accused of sexual assault by five different women. Singer-songwriter Lisa Gentile was the fifth woman who accused Noth of taking advantage of her.
In a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred, Gentile alleged that she was “sexually victimized” and “sexually abused” by the actor in 2002. Gentile claimed that he forcibly pulled her, kissed her and touched her breasts.
“I was trying to get him to stop,” Gentile said.
The day after the alleged incident, Gentile claims Noth called her and said if she “ever told a soul about what happened the night before, that he would ruin my career, I would never sing again and he would blacklist me in the business.” Noth has previously denied all other allegations, calling them “categorically false.”
Before the press conference, two women anonymously told The Hollywood Reporter that Noth had assaulted them on separate occasions in 2004 and 2015.
A third woman revealed to The Daily Beast that she too was assaulted in 2010. Noth was dropped by his talent agency A3 Artists Agency and was fired from the CBS series The Equalizer following the accusations.
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