Although Harvey Weinstein is now in the third day of his sexual assault trial, the disgraced film mogul and former Democratic super-donor hasn’t stopped trying to postpone his day in court.
In the latest attempt, Weinstein’s legal team sent a letter to James Burke, the Manhattan judge overseeing the trial, requesting that Burke recuse himself over comments he made about Weinstein texting in court. The letter, which has been verified by ABC News, reads in part:
“We write to seek recusal of Your Honor from this case based on the prejudicial and inflammatory comments made by the Court to Mr. Weinstein yesterday morning, which received widespread press attention, in which the Court admonished Mr. Weinstein for using his cell phone in the courtroom before Court was in session,” writes Weinstein’s legal team, which mentions the following comment:
BURKE: Mr. Weinstein, I could not implore you more to not answer the following question: Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life, by texting in violation of an order? Is it?
“These comments reflect the Court’s animus towards the Defendant and have created a situation in which the Court’s “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” continues Weinstein’s legal team.
As the Daily Wire previously reported, Burke gave the defendant a stern reminder about using his cell phone in court, and threatened to revoke Weinstein’s bail in an exchange with one of his lawyer’s, Arthur Aidala.
BURKE: Are you going to pretend you didn’t know about this?
AIDALA: Your honor, I just walked into the courtroom….
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.
In another part of the letter, which is eight pages long, Weinstein’s defense argues that the Los Angeles district attorney’s decision on Monday to charge Weinstein with sexual assault was a “coordinated effort” to “poison the jury pool” for the Manhattan trial.
There was no need or logical reason for the charges to have been filed in California at this moment, except to prejudice Mr. Weinstein as his trial in New York begins, poison the jury pool, and ensure that he does not receive a fair trial. As such, it was improper for the Court to deny Mr. Weinstein’s request for an adjournment of this trial until the media attention stirred up by the coordinated New York – Los Angeles effort has died down.
As evidence that Weinstein is incapable of “receiving a fair trial at this time,” the defense argues that “at least 96 [news] articles…were published yesterday regarding the case.” Weinstein’s lawyers claim that the “online comments sections of these articles reflect the negative slant of the stories being published, with many questioning Mr. Weinstein’s use of his doctor-prescribed walker and hoping Mr. Weinstein goes to jail.”
The defense team also writes that “one commenter” went “so far as to” declare that “maybe they’ll give him [Jeffrey] Epstein’s cell.” The defense doesn’t name the website where they found that specific comment.
Although Judge Burke has not responded to the letter, the New York Daily News reports that he is “expected to respond to the motion in the coming days.”