Harvey Weinstein's lawyer complains about 'unsanitary, fetid' prison cell during LA sex abuse trial
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Harvey Weinstein's lawyer complained on Tuesday that his client is being held in an "unsanitary, fetid" cell before being returned to jail. Attorney Mark Werksman testified before Judge Lisa B Lench that Weinstein has been left alone in his wheelchair for three to four hours in an "unsanitary" holding cell, Daily Mail reports.
Werksman remarked, "It’s almost medieval, the conditions. I’m concerned about his health and his ability to survive this ordeal. He’s 70 years old." The 70-year-old was found guilty of multiple sexual assaults, including rape, and is now serving a 23-year sentence in prison in New York. The new charges include allegations of rape and assault that are said to have occurred in hotels in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013.
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Weinstein's attorney Mark Werksman added, "I’m worried about him surviving this ordeal without a heart attack or stroke," before requesting "special treatment" for Weinstein, whom he described as a "70-year-old man with health issues." Judge Lench responded that she will "talk to the deputies about it." She stated, "I’m not minimizing it, I’m just not sure there’s a lot to be done." Later, she said to Werksman's co-counsel Alan Jackson, "They don't have an excess of wheelchair vans to come to pick him up when he's ready." However, Werksman persisted, providing the court with letters from four different doctors and asserting that Weinstein is being held without even access to a bathroom. But Lench quickly refuted the assertion, stating, "He's not deprived of a toilet, there's a toilet in the cell." She said, "I'm not going to let the record reflect that he’s deprived of a toilet. I’m not going to let the record look like he didn’t have access to a toilet." After that, Werksman appeared to retract his initial statement and say he didn't mean to imply there wasn't a toilet. Instead, he claims that the one offered is "unhygienic, it is virtually unusable, it is medieval."
The exchange occurred as the jury selection process for Weinstein's sexual assault trial in Los Angeles continued. Twenty-six prospective jurors have already been removed from the trial, which is set to start on October 24, after Lench asked them if they could be unbiased. This leaves 56 potential jurors to come back on Monday.
The case "has garnered some media attention," Lench said in her address to the potential jurors on Tuesday. "I understand you may have received information about this case, and about Weinstein generally, before you came into this courtroom," she added. "You may not expose yourself from this point forward to information about this case."
The trial is expected to last at least a few months and the opening statements have been scheduled for October 24. Weinstein is facing 11 charges of sexual assault in California and should he be convicted on all charges, he could easily face up to 140 years to life in prison.