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The judge in Harvey Weinstein‘s rape trial declined the defense’s request that he step aside as jury selection dipped into a third day Thursday.
Judge James Burke announced his decision Thursday, a day after Weinstein’s lawyers sent him a letter asking that he remove himself from the case. They objected to comments Burke made when he threatened to jail Weinstein for ignoring a court order barring texting in the courtroom.
Weinstein’s lawyers blasted the judge’s comments as “prejudicial and inflammatory,” and raised questions about his impartiality.
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There was nothing improper about “scolding a recalcitrant defendant” over violating an order to use his cell phone in court, Burke said Thursday.
“I never meant that I was going to put your client in jail for life,” he told defense attorneys.
Judges seldom step aside from cases over such requests, but Weinstein’s lawyers could be also making a play to make an issue of Burke’s comments and rulings for a possible appeal.
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The defense had further argued that Burke failed to adequately safeguard Weinstein’s right to a fair and impartial jury, in part by rejecting a request to halt jury selection for a “cooling off” period after prosecutors in Los Angeles filed new sex crimes charges against him Monday.
“There is no time like the present,” Burke said Thursday. “All sides are ready.”
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Weinstein is charged in New York with raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting another woman, Mimi Haleyi, in 2006. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison. The 67-year-old ex-studio boss has pleaded not guilty and maintains that any sexual activity was consensual.
The day’s jury selection ended at midday on Thursday and will resume Friday.
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