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Jennifer Siebel Newsom to testify about Weinstein assault at LA trial
October 10, 2022
Sarah Morris/Getty Images
First partner of California Jennifer Siebel Newsom speaks at the Women’s
March California 2019 on January 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Demonstrations are slated to take place in cities across the country in the
third annual event aimed to highlight social change and celebrate women’s
rights around the world. (Photo by Sarah Morris/Getty Images)
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who has written about being assaulted by Harvey
Weinstein in a Los Angeles hotel in the early 2000s, will be one of at least
five women scheduled to testify against the legendary Hollywood producer as
he faces trial in Los Angeles for alleged sex crimes committed on the West
Coast.
Jury selection for Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial began Monday, and
California’s first partner has been identified as Jane Doe No. 4 in court
filings, Deadline
<https://deadline.com/2022/10/harvey-weinstein-trial-sex-crimes-jennifer-sieblel-newsom-jane-doe-testify-1235140106/>
and the Los Angeles Times
<https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-10/harvey-weinstein-la-trial-accusers-jennifer-siebel-newsom>
reported Monday. Weinstein, 70, faces 11 counts of sexual assault stemming
from allegations by five women that he sexually abused them in high-end Los
Angeles hotels between 2004 and 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse as jury deliberations
continue in his rape trial, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in New York. (AP
Photo/John Minchillo)
If convicted, Weinstein faces a sentence of up to 135 years to life,
prosecutors told the Los Angeles Times. Weinstein, “a disgraced, debilitated
shell of the pugnacious movie titan he once was,” is serving a 23-year
sentence following his 2020 conviction for rape and criminal assault in New
York.
For Weinstein’s second trial in Los Angeles, his alleged accusers only will
be known in court or in court records as either Jane Does or by their first
names and last initial, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office
told the Los Angeles Times. The women will testify in open court and their
faces will not be obscured, the spokesperson said.
Weinstein has repeatedly denied assaulting any women and insisted all of his
encounters with his accusers were consensual.
One of Weinstein’s defense attorneys, Mark Werksman, told the Los Angeles
Times that the trial will feature testimony from well-known figures,
including women who have appeared in movies or well-known ad campaigns.
Siebel Newsom is testifying to “seek some measure of justice for survivors,
and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women,” her attorney
Elizabeth Fegan said in a statement to Deadline and the Los Angeles Times.
Lt. Gov Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, hugs his wife,Jennifer Siebel Newsom as he
celebrates at an election night party after he defeated Republican opponent
John Cox to become 40th governor of California Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Los
Angeles, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
A long-time documentary filmmaker, Siebel Newsom was as an actress before her
2008 marriage to then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. In court documents,
Jane Doe No. 4 has accused Weinstein of forcible rape that occurred sometime
between September 2004 and September 2005.
“Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein
at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap,” Fegan the told
Deadline in a statement this morning. “Please respect her choice to not
discuss this matter outside of the courtroom.”
Siebel Newsom also wrote about being assaulted by Weinstein in a 2017 essay
for the Huffington Post.
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/harvey-weinstein-and-the-end-of-open-secrets_b_59d7fd7be4b08ce873a8cdf7>
The essay was published after the New York Times and New Yorker published
lengthy exposes about Weinstein’s decades-long history off allegedly raping,
harassing and otherwise abusing women in Hollywood, including such
high-profile actors as Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow.
In her essay, Siebel Newsom didn’t offer details about the alleged attack but
described how Weinstein took advantage of her desire to advance her career to
engineer time alone with her.
“I was naïve, new to the industry, and didn’t know how to deal with his
aggressive advances — work invitations with a friend late-night at The
Toronto Film Festival, and later an invitation to meet with him about a role
in The Peninsula Hotel, where staff were present and then all of a sudden
disappeared like clockwork, leaving me alone with this extremely powerful and
intimidating Hollywood legend,” Siebel Newsom wrote.
More than 90 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, with the
allegations going back decades. The allegations spurred the #MeToo movement,
leading to the downfall of other powerful men in media, business and politics.
The New York Times reported
<https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/business/media/weinstein-los-angeles-trial.html>
Weinstein’s trial is expected to last up to eight weeks, and could overlap
the Nov. 18 release of “She Said,” a $30 million drama about the newspaper’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that helped exposed Weinstein’s behavior.
