News and Commentary

Weinstein Request For New Judge Denied, Medical ‘Emergency’ Interrupts Proceedings

   DailyWire.com
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 07: Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York City criminal court for his sex crimes trial on January 7, 2020 in New York City. Weinstein, a movie producer whose alleged sexual misconduct helped spark the #MeToo movement, pleaded not-guilty on five counts of rape and sexual assault against two unnamed women and faces a possible life sentence in prison.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

James Burke, the New York Supreme Court Judge assigned to the Harvey Weinstein case, has denied a motion from Weinstein’s lawyers to recuse himself from the disgraced media mogul’s sexual assault trial. 

According to USA Today, the defense lawyers had requested Burke recuse himself from the trial after scolding Weinstein on Tuesday for repeatedly using his cell phone in the courtroom. 

In a motion obtained by the news agency, Burke wrote that “a judge admonishing a defendant for repeatedly not following the rules of the courtroom does not show bias, but rather simply a judge maintaining order and decorum in his courtroom.” 

According to Deadline, “Burke ripped through the defense’s five-point motion calmly but like a sharp knife finally unsheathed.” 

“There is nothing inflammatory or biased for scolding a defendant for not complying with the court,” said Burke, reports the news agency. “I have in no way prejudged your client and gone to great lengths to ensure your client the fair trial he deserves.”

Jury selection for the case was also postponed after Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi “got something in her eye in court and it was causing pain,” said the New York district attorney’s office, as reported USA Today. Burke called the incident a “sudden borderline emergency” and told everyone to return on Friday. 

According to The New York Times, the process of jury selection, which is supposed to last about two weeks, has the court sifting through over 100 New Yorkers each day to try and “find 12 jurors and six alternates in Manhattan who can put aside what they have read or heard about Weinstein” and judge him “solely on the evidence produced in the courtroom.”

As The Daily Wire previously reported, Weinstein has been accused of forcing a woman to let him perform oral sex on her in 2006 and raping an unnamed woman at a hotel in 2013. Prosecutors are also looking to charge Weinstein with predatory sexual assault, which could result in life in prison. 

According to The Daily Wire, Donna Rotunno, a lead attorney for Weinstein, has claimed that the charges against her client in the Manhattan trial “don’t rise to the level of rape.”

Weinstein was also charged in Los Angeles on Monday for allegedly committing back-to-back sexual assaults almost seven years ago. 

“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,” said Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey in a press conference, according to The Daily Wire. “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.”

“We allege the second assault took place the next evening in a hotel suite in Beverly Hills. Each of these victims told at least one person about the assault in 2013. They reported the crimes to police in 2017,” said Lacey. 

Lacey has requested that Weinstein’s bail be set at $5 million, but also acknowledged that he will not be expected to appear in Los Angeles court until his Manhattan trial is concluded. If Weinstein is convicted on the Los Angeles charges, he faces up to 28 years in state prison.

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Weinstein Request For New Judge Denied, Medical ‘Emergency’ Interrupts Proceedings