On the second day of his sexual assault trial, Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced film mogul and former Democratic super donor, was given a blunt reminder: He can’t use his cell phone in court.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke, who has been described by the New York Times as a “prickly but fair-minded jurist with little tolerance for legal showboating or incompetence,” scolded Weinstein after discovering that Weinstein was using a cell phone in court.
“Mr. Weinstein, I cannot implore you more to not answer the following question — that means don’t say anything,” Burke told Weinstein, reports Page Six. “Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life, by texting and violating a court order?”
“There is an issue,” continued Burke, according to the New York Daily News. “It’s an ongoing issue. It happens every single court day.”
Burke also had a stern exchange with Arthur Aidala, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, shortly after he entered the courtroom, reports the news agency.
BURKE: Are you going to pretend you didn’t know about this?
AIDALA: Your honor, I just walked into the courtroom.
According to the Times, the exchange continued as followed:
AIDALA: You said you never want to see a cellphone in my client’s hand.
BURKE: Because it was my intention to do what?
AIDALA: To change his bail conditions.
BURKE: To what?
AIDALA: I believe you said remand.
Burke’s threat could have resulted in Weinstein’s bail being revoked and the disgraced film mogul being tossed into jail, reports the New York Daily News. However, Burke decided to not act on the threat.
Although the trial is expected to last more than two months, the first two weeks have been dedicated to selecting a jury from approximately 500 jurors, reports the New York Times. Prosecutors say that Weinstein forced a woman to let him perform oral sex on her in 2006, raped an unnamed woman at a hotel in 2013, and stands accused of “predatory sexual assault for having committed a serious sex crime against more than one person,” according to the news agency. Weinstein faces up to life in prison.
On Monday, Weinstein was also charged in Los Angeles for committing back-to-back sex crimes over a two-day period in 2013, crimes for which prosecutors have requested $5 million bail, as previously reported by the Daily Wire.
“We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then committed violent crimes against them,” announced Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey in a press conference.
“In the complaint we filed earlier today, we allege that the first sexual assault took place on February 18, 2013, in a Los Angeles hotel room,” continued Lacey. “For those crimes, defendant Weinstein is charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, and sexual penetration by use of force. He also faces one felony account of sexual battery by restraint of another woman.”
If convicted on all counts in the Los Angeles case, Weinstein faces up to 28 years in state prison.