The retrial of Harvey Weinstein, whose prosecution and conviction for rape and sex assault ignited the “MeToo” movement, kicks off in New York on Tuesday
.The disgraced movie mogul’s 2017 conviction by a jury was overturned seven years later by an appeals court that ruled the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was unlawful.
Former Miramax studio boss Weinstein will be in the dock for the sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006, the rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013, and a new count for an alleged sexual assault in 2006 at a hotel in Manhattan.
The trial, expected to last up to six weeks in a Manhattan criminal court, begins Tuesday with jury selection, which could take five days, according to Judge Curtis Farber.
Weinstein, 73, hopes the case will be judged with “fresh eyes,” more than seven years after investigations by the New York Times and the New Yorker led to his spectacular downfall and a global backlash against predatory abusers.
