Harvey Weinstein's team complain as Mel Gibson is set to testify against him
Topics: US News, Film and TV, Crime, Celebrity
Anish Vij
Featured Image Credit: Sipa US / REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: US News, Film and TV, Crime, Celebrity
Harvey Weinstein's legal team have argued against Mel Gibson being allowed testify against him.
The 70-year-old who is serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York, has pleaded not guilty to 11 sexual assault charges against five women between 2004 to 2013.
If found guilty, Weinstein could face up to 140 years behind bars, which is essentially a life sentence.
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Prosecutors in the trial, which began on Monday (3 October), have now called for actor Mel Gibson to take the stand.
The defence don't want Gibson to testify towards Weinstein as they argued that the actor has ill will towards the Hollywood Mogul after the release of biblical drama Passion of the Christ, which Gibson directed.
Weinstein's publishing company later challenged the film by releasing a book titled 'Perspectives on the Passion of the Christ'.
Mark Werksman, Weinstein’s attorney, argued: "This created a feud between Mr. Gibson and Mr. Weinstein."
The defence also argued that Gibson is 'now trying to rehabilitate his image by becoming a champion of the #MeToo movement'.
Judge Lisa B. Lench denied a defence request to ask Gibson about the alleged anti-Semitic comments he might have made in the past.
The Judge asked: "How is it relevant if he’s racist toward African Americans or Latinos?"
"It goes to his unwillingness to grant equal status to someone who is not of his ilk. He has a white-supremacist view," Werksman argued.
"Someone with white-supremacist values might have no problem perjuring himself against a Jewish defendant."
"I’m not going to allow you to get into his other comments that may indicate his general demeanour about, as you say, ‘people who are not of his ilk',” Judge Lench replied.
"I will allow you to question him about whether or not there is personal animosity between the two of them."
The Braveheart actor has been called upon to to support the allegations from a woman identified as 'Jane Doe 3', who claims that Weinstein sexually assaulted her at his hotel in 2010.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, said: "I don’t believe there’s any case law that suggests they get to pile on fresh complaint witnesses in multiples.
"It dilutes the evidence. I think it’s a waste of time. I think it’s improper. I think it dilutes Mr. Weinstein’s due process."
The eight-week trial is taking place in a Los Angeles court, where jury selection began on Monday.
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