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The selection of the twelve jurors for the trial of the former producer was made under high surveillance for two weeks, on the one hand because Harvey Weinstein incurs life if he is found guilty. On the other hand, because the defense fears that this trial will be confused with that, more general, of the #MeToo movement.
With our correspondent in New York, Carrie Nooten
In New York, after two weeks of hearings , we now know the composition of the jury for the trial of Harvey Weinstein , which will begin next Wednesday. Among 700 potential candidates, five women and seven men will decide whether the former producer is guilty of the sexual assault and the rape of which two women are accused.
A majority male jury therefore, and even more, because it is made up of half white men, that is to say having exactly the same profile as that of the accused Harvey Weinstein. The remaining five jurors are mostly African-American women. This prompted the prosecutor to complain several times to the judge that the lawyers of the former producer did everything to avoid choosing young white women, that is to say the profile of at least one of the two victims. inferred.
Controversy around a juror
The defense also protested against the " too short selection time " according to it. By comparison, it had taken eleven weeks to compose the jury for OJ Simpson's high-profile trial as well.
Harvey Weinstein's lawyers had the right to refuse twenty jurors preferred by the prosecutor without justifying themselves. Selection accelerated once these pre-emption rights were exhausted. The last two jurors chosen were white women, and the validation of one of them sparked a mini-controversy Friday afternoon. She did not specify during her selection interview that she would publish a novel this summer telling the story of young women targeted by sexual predators. The judge still retained it, angering the defense.
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