Weinstein is facing four new sex crime charges in Los Angeles that are based on a rape accusation from one woman and a sexual assault allegation from another. The separate incidents allegedly took place over a two-day period in 2013.
New York Times correspondent and CBS News contributor Jodi Kantor, who won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking the news about Weinstein, said the new charges are “an incredibly dramatic development.”
“Weinstein is essentially now fighting charges on two fronts,” Kantor told “CBS This Morning” on Tuesday. “The prosecutors are basically accusing him of hurting women day after day in L.A. And, remember that as jury selection starts in New York, the New York jury may know about what he’s accused of doing in Los Angeles.”
Kantor said the two cases could affect each other in unpredictable ways.
“First of all, there’s a woman who’s involved in both cases,” Kantor said. “There are only two women at the basis of the New York charges, but the prosecutors can call other witnesses. One of those witnesses is also at the center of the L.A. allegations.”
Showing a pattern with the other witnesses’ testimony could be devastating for Weinstein’s case, Kantor said.
“The nature of the Harvey Weinstein allegations is these women who are strangers to one another, who didn’t know each other, they’re telling very similar stories about the same man over and over again,” Kantor said. “That’s really powerful.”
But, according to Kantor, Weinstein’s defense team does have at least one thing on their side.
“The jury has to be unanimous to convict,” Kantor said. “When is the last time that 12 people you know agreed on these really complicated matters about sex and power? So they may be able to create some doubt about exactly what happened and about consent in the jury’s mind.”
