Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who launched the careers of noted directors such as Quentin Tarantino, will face 12 jurors when his trial will begin on Wednesday in New York City.
If found guilty of the five charges against him, which include alleged rape and sexual assault, he may face life in prison, BBC reported.
More than 80 women claimed that Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Roughly seven thousand men and women were screened to select the 12 jurors who will decide his fate. They had been warned by Judge James Burke that they must decide based on “the evidence,” and not the #Me Too movement, which was launched by the public reports of his alleged crimes.
Actress Uma Thurman, who played the lead role in the 2003 Tarantino film Kill Bill and 2004's Kill Bill Part 2, has claimed that Weinstein physically assaulted her and made unwanted advances on her, CNBC reported in 2018. The report included a friend of the actress alleging that the producer said he would destroy her career unless she accepts his unwanted attention.
Weinstein also faces a court case in Los Angeles for alleged rape and sexual assault, and will face the judge presiding in that case after his trial in New York is finished, which is expected to be in March.
Tarantino, who currently resides in Israel where he is expecting the birth of his child with Israeli singer Daniela Pick, has said that he regrets not having done more than he did when he first heard the news about Weinstein, and that he knew enough to act in real time, but did not.
At the time, he said, he wanted to believe the rumors were not true; “that’s the egg on my face now,” he said, using an American idiom which means one had been fooled or embarrassed.