9 jurors picked as Weinstein’s lawyers seek to move him from jail to hospital during #MeToo retrial

By Canadian Press on April 16, 2025.

NEW YORK (AP) — Nine jurors were picked Wednesday on the second day of jury selection in Harvey Weinstein’s #MeToo rape retrial.

At the same time, the disgraced movie mogul’s lawyers asked a judge to allow him to spend his nights at a New York City hospital instead of jail for the duration of the trial, citing his many health issues.

The jurors — five women and four men — were picked from a group of 25 prospective jurors after prosecutors and Weinstein’s lawyers spent the past two days asking them questions to gauge their ability to be impartial. They are the first jurors picked for the case after none were selected on Tuesday.

Jury selection will resume on Thursday with a fresh group of about 80 prospective jurors being summoned to court to begin the screening process anew.

Judge Curtis Farber has said a total of 12 jurors and six alternates will be picked.

Weinstein, 73, arrived in court in a wheelchair, as he has at all of his recent court appearances, and leaned back in it to peer at prospective jurors as they answered questions touching on everything from their impressions of the #MeToo movement to what they like to do in their spare time.

After initially indicating he could be fair, one prospective juror returned to the courtroom and said he didn’t think he could.

“Defense counsel asked my reaction to the defendant’s name and the first word that came in my head was ‘pig,’” said the man, who works as an investment banker. “And I apologize, but I feel a great sense of responsibility as a citizen and I take this stuff seriously.”

In seeking to relocate Weinstein, his lawyers argued that his stay at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex is exacerbating his health issues and that he’d be better off in the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

Weinstein has been back and forth numerous times to Bellevue in recent months for treatment of various maladies.

The Oscar-winning “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” producer has numerous health conditions, including chronic myeloid leukemia, heart issues, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, sciatica and severe limitations on his ability to walk. A recent tongue infection was misdiagnosed at Rikers, requiring hospitalization, and he has gained nearly 20 pounds (9 kilograms) in the past month, his lawyer Imran Ansari said.

In a statement, Ansari said Weinstein is also subjected to freezing temperatures at Rikers and isn’t provided with clean clothing.

“Because of this mistreatment, he has been worn down considerably health wise, and now faces the stress of trial in this condition, which may very well lead to serious health complications, even death,” Ansari said.

Weinstein’s lawyers filed a legal claim against New York City last November, alleging he was receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions at Rikers. The claim, which seeks $5 million in damages, argues that Weinstein has been returned to Rikers each time before fully recovering at the hospital.

The troubled jail complex has faced growing scrutiny for its mistreatment of detainees and dangerous conditions. Last year, a federal judge cleared the way for a possible federal takeover, finding the city had placed inmates in “unconstitutional danger.”

Judge Curtis Farber has yet to rule on the transfer request, and the issue wasn’t discussed in court before jury selection resumed on Wednesday morning.

The first day ended on Tuesday with no one chosen for the panel. Wednesday kicked off with two dozen prospective jurors being brought to the courtroom for more questioning after making it through an initial round a day earlier.

Weinstein is being tried again after New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, last year overturned his 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial, finding that improper rulings and prejudicial testimony tainted the original one.

Weinstein is being retried on two charges from his original trial. He’s accused of raping an aspiring actor in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and a criminal sex act by forcing oral sex on a movie and TV production assistant in 2006.

He is also charged with one count of criminal sex act based on an allegation from a woman who was not a part of the original trial. That woman, who has asked not to be named publicly, alleges that Weinstein forced oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone.

Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press

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