Dozens more possible jurors screened in Weinstein retrial

Dozens more people are undergoing screening as potential jurors for Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape retrial.

The panel started taking shape on Wednesday, when five women and four men were picked for the redo of the landmark #MeToo-era trial.

They were chosen after several stages of screening and questioning, a multistep process that’s common for long felony trials in Manhattan.

Weinstein’s retrial is expected to run until at least the end of May.

Over 140 prospective jurors were brought into court on Thursday for the first stage of selection: a show-of-hands response to whether they had schedule conflicts or felt they could not be fair and impartial because of the nature and news coverage of the case.

As in earlier rounds, about two-thirds raised their hands and were excused.

Even one person who did not raise their hand soon had second thoughts, telling the judge — without other potential jurors in earshot — that she was not sure she could disregard all that she had read about the case over the years.

Ultimately, about 50 people were set to advance to the next stage of questioning on Thursday afternoon.

Weinstein, an Oscar-winning producer and one-time Hollywood power broker, is charged with raping two different women — an aspiring actor and a production assistant — on separate occasions.

He also is charged with forcing oral sex on another woman.

Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty.

He says all his sexual experiences have been consensual.

After allegations about him emerged publicly in 2017 and fuelled the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct, Weinstein faced investigations and prosecutions in multiple places.

The ex-movie mogul was convicted of rape at his first New York trial in 2020.

Two years later, he was convicted in Los Angeles of a separate rape charge that he also denied.

Then his New York conviction and 23-year prison sentence were overturned by the state’s highest court last year.

That reversal led to the retrial, where the charges and expected evidence differ somewhat from the original trial.

Prosecutors and defence lawyers are to choose 12 jurors and six alternates.

Judge Curtis Farber is overseeing the painstaking process. The nine jurors selected so far were whittled from roughly 140 people who went through initial screening earlier this week.

Prospective jurors can be excused for various reasons, ranging from language barriers to prior experiences with — or opinions about — people or issues in a case.

Prosecutors and defence lawyers also get a limited number of chances to eliminate potential jurors without giving a reason.