Harvey Weinstein will not testify at his sex crimes trial in Los Angeles

Harvey Weinstein will not take the stand at his sex crimes trial in Los Angeles, where he is charged with seven counts of rape and sexual assault, his lawyer said Monday.

The disgraced movie mogul also declined to testify at his 2020 trial in Manhattan, where he was convicted of two felonies: third-degree rape and one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree.

He pleaded not guilty in both trials and denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex. He is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, told Judge Lisa B. Lench on Monday morning that his client would not take the stand in his own defense.

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Lench reminded Weinstein that he has a right to testify. Weinstein confirmed that he understood.

Los Angeles prosecutors rested their case before the Thanksgiving break, following nearly four weeks of testimony from 44 witnesses.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actor who is married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, offered the most wrenching testimony of the trial so far. She testified in graphic terms about the night he allegedly raped her in a hotel suite.

The trial in Los Angeles took on higher stakes for prosecutors after the New York State Court of Appeals agreed in August to allow Weinstein to appeal his conviction there.

If the New York conviction is upheld, he would serve the rest of his 23-year sentence. If it is overturned, his fate would hinge on the outcome of his Los Angeles trial. If he is convicted in L.A., he could face life in prison in California.

The charges against Weinstein in Los Angeles are two counts of rape and five other sexual assault counts.

In the 1990s and the 2000s, Weinstein and his younger brother, Bob, were titans of the movie business, producing seminal films like “Pulp Fiction” and distributing Oscar-winning dramas such as “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “The King’s Speech.”

Weinstein is on trial five years after The New York Times and The New Yorker first published explosive investigations into allegations of a pattern of sexual misconduct.

The stories inspired a wider reckoning with abuses of power in entertainment and other high-profile industries that quickly became known as the #MeToo movement.