Harvey Weinstein’s L.A. Trial Loses One Supporting Witness

variety.com:

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterHarvey Weinstein will face one fewer witness at his Los Angeles trial in October, a judge ruled on Wednesday.Prosecutors had previously been granted the right to call five “prior bad acts” witnesses to testify against the disgraced producer, in support of five other women whose claims form the basis of the charges in the case.But one of those witnesses — known in court only as “Miss I.” — has since decided she does not want to testify.

On Wednesday, prosecutors asked the court’s permission to replace her with another witness. But Judge Lisa Lench denied that request, saying the woman’s testimony would be too similar to the accounts of the other witnesses.Weinstein, 70, is facing 11 counts of rape and sexual assault pertaining to the five alleged victims.

He is already serving a 23-year sentence after being convicted in New York of rape and sexual assault in February 2020. One of the four supporting witnesses is Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, the Italian model and actress who first reported Weinstein to the New York Police Department in 2015.

She alleged that Weinstein groped her and tried to stick his hand up her skirt.The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office chose not to prosecute Weinstein for that incident, leading to widespread criticism after the Weinstein scandal finally broke two years later.