Should the Harvey Weinstein jury really be forbidden to review books?
As the jury in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial begin their deliberations, his defence lawyers launched a last-minute bid to to get one juror discharged – by turning their attention to her reading material.
On Tuesday, Weinstein’s lawyer Damon Cheronis complained that juror No 11 was reading “books on predatory older men” and reviewing them online on Goodreads during the proceedings, reports Vulture. Cheronis argued that this was in violation of the court order not to consume media related to the trial, and sought to have her replaced on the jury.
Related: #MeToo: after Weinstein and Epstein, an ‘unprecedented’ wave of books
The allegations against Weinstein and the #MeToo movement they triggered did create a sensation in publishing, from the behind-the-scenes stories of reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (She Said) and Ronan Farrow (Catch and Kill), to fictional interpretations such as This Is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill and Kirsten Roupenian’s You Know You Want This.
In the case of Juror No 11, the book was My Dark Vanessa, the controversial debut by Kate Elizabeth Russell in which an adult woman reevaluates the sexual relationship she had with her teacher as a teenager. The Observer called it “an inversion of Lolita for the #MeToo generation … a book that asks what we have lost and gained in an era that has revolutionised the way we think about sex and power”. Juror No 11 wrote that she “liked a lot about this novel”, praising Russell’s handling of the difficult subject, but found flaws with characterisation in terms of how it related to the central theme.
In response to questioning from Justice James Burke, the juror confirmed she was currently reading Vanessa Springora’s memoir Le Consentement, about being preyed on by the writer Gabriel Matzneff at the age of 13 – but, she said, she had not reviewed it yet.
Justice Burke denied the motion to have the juror discharged, saying “she apparently is simply reading the book”. The same juror is an author herself, and had at the selection stage been questioned over a book she had written that Cheronis argued was about “predatory older men”. (It has elsewhere been praised as a striking debut.)
This week Weinstein’s lead defence lawyer Donna Rotunno made her own venture into publishing with an opinion piece in Newsweek, in which she railed against hostile media coverage and addressed the jury directly. “Harvey Weinstein is innocent,” she wrote, just before a disclaimer: “The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.”
Who are we to question what might have inspired Rotunno in writing those words, any more than we might any writer on their motivations? Assuming the scrutiny on choice of reading material sets a precedent, however – it might present those inclined with a new way out of jury duty. Crime and Punishment? One star: not believable.
• In the US, Rainn offers support at 800-656-4673 or by chat at Rainn.org. In the UK, the rape crisis national freephone helpline is at 0808-802-9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800-737-7328) or 1800respect.org.au. Other international helplines can be found at Ibiblio.org.
