Jennifer Siebel Newsom, spouse of California governor, amongst accusers at Weinstein trial

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actor who’s married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, is among the many accusers of Harvey Weinstein who will testify at his rape and sexual assault trial that started Monday, her lawyer stated.

“Like many different girls, my shopper was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported enterprise assembly that turned out to be a lure,” Newsom’s lawyer Elizabeth Fegan stated in an announcement. “She intends to testify at his trial so as to search some measure of justice for survivors, and as a part of her life’s work to enhance the lives of ladies.”

Weinstein, the 70-year-old former film mogul who’s serving a 23-year jail sentence after a conviction in New York, has pleaded not responsible to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving Newsom and 4 different girls. All of them will testify as Jane Doe in the course of the eight-week trial in a Los Angeles courtroom, the place jury choice started Monday.

The Associated Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they have been sexually abused, however Newsom agreed to be named by her lawyer.

The information of her involvement was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Newsom, 48, appeared in small roles in dozens of movies and tv exhibits between 2002 and 2011. Recently she has directed documentaries together with “The Great American Lie” in 2020 and “Fair Play” from this yr. Both cope with gender in society.

She wrote about her expertise with Weinstein in a 2017 essay within the Huffington Post after the USA Prime Time and New Yorker tales made him a magnet of the #MeToo motion, however gave few particulars.

Weinstein, who’s being held in a Los Angeles County jail, was introduced Monday into courtroom in a wheelchair by a facet door, and climbed from it rigorously right into a seat subsequent to one in all his attorneys on the protection desk. He was sporting a blue swimsuit, which he’s allowed to vary into from his jail apparel in the course of the trial.

He stood with the remainder of the room as the primary panel of 67 potential jurors had been introduced in, however sat down about midway by the method. He waved at them from his seat when his attorneys launched them.

The jurors got a prolonged questionnaire supposed to display out those that must be dismissed. Both the questions and solutions on the varieties are personal, however earlier hearings on its contents revealed that it accommodates questions on how a lot media protection of Weinstein they’ve seen, and whether or not they have fashioned opinions from it, although the choose rejected questions on particular tales and media retailers.

The prosecution will probably be allowed to introduce as proof components of Weinstein’s conviction for rape and sexual assault, the place the state’s highest courtroom has agreed to listen to his attraction.

The questionnaire additionally features a query a couple of California regulation that claims the testimony alone of a sexual assault sufferer may be enough proof to convict if a juror believes them.

The jurors had been additionally given a protracted listing of names of witnesses within the coming trial, together with these of the accusers to find out whether or not they have any connection to them. The preliminary witness listing within the case had greater than 270 names, although fewer than half which are anticipated. Most of the possible witness listing has not been made public.

One witness, Barbara Schneeweiss, a producer on “Project Runway” and different tv exhibits, was current in courtroom early Monday and was informed by a choose she was on name to come back in at any time.

Two extra panels of as much as 75 jurors will probably be introduced in Tuesday and Wednesday. Questioning of particular person jurors is just not anticipated to start till subsequent week, and opening statements could not start for 2 weeks.

The trial comes 5 years after girls’s tales about Weinstein made the #MeToo motion explode.

Weinstein is charged with 4 counts of rape and 7 different sexual assault counts.

Most of the incidents in his indictment, like Newsom’s, occurred beneath the guise of enterprise conferences at luxurious inns in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, which Weinstein used as his California headquarters and the place he could possibly be seen throughout awards season and all year long. Four of them occurred throughout Oscars week 2013, when Weinstein releases “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Django Unchained” would win Academy Awards.