LOS ANGELES— Harvey Weinstein once presided over red carpets and award ceremonies in this city. His most recent appearances have been through a courthouse back door, where he is escorted by police officers and kept away from photographers.

Five years after allegations of sexual assault derailed his career and more than two years after being convicted of sex crimes in New York, Mr. Weinstein is facing a new set of accusations in a Los Angeles criminal court. Beginning this week, jurors—nine men, three women—will hear the case against Mr. Weinstein that includes 11 counts of sexual assault. Five women are accusing the disgraced producer of assaults they say occurred between 2004 and 2013.

Mr. Weinstein, 70 years old, has pleaded not guilty. He faces a life sentence.

The trial has high stakes for Mr. Weinstein. In August, New York’s Court of Appeals agreed to hear Mr. Weinstein’s appeal to reverse his New York conviction of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape for which he is serving a 23-year sentence.

If Mr. Weinstein successfully appeals the New York charge and his jail sentence is undone, the Los Angeles trial will take on more significance. The Los Angeles trial is expected to last several weeks, with a verdict likely in late November or early December.

The coming trial demonstrates how the broader culture has changed since Mr. Weinstein was first accused of sexual assault, details of which the New York Times and the New Yorker published in the fall of 2017. While the trial is under way, a new movie detailing the work of the New York Times on the story, “She Said,” will be released by Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, is reportedly among Mr. Weinstein’s accusers.

Photo: Sarah Morris/Getty Images

Mr. Weinstein’s pretrial proceedings have had political and show-business contours. News reports have unearthed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, as among the accusers, and actor Mel Gibson is expected to testify against the producer. On Tuesday, attorneys argued over whether former Playboy model Holly Madison would be called to testify for the defense regarding an allegation that a friend of hers had made against Mr. Weinstein, one the accuser said occurred on the set of his 2004 movie “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.”

“Who [the accuser] partied with has nothing to do with her being assaulted,” argued Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez. The judge agreed, saying Ms. Madison wouldn’t be testifying.

Mr. Weinstein’s trial is on the ninth floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, the floor reserved for the city’s high-profile cases and best known as the hall where O.J. Simpson’s murder trial took place in 1995.

Mark Werksman, one of Harvey. Weinstein’s attorneys, speaks to the media.

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

During jury selection, Mr. Weinstein’s high-profile life and criminal history appeared to make it challenging for his legal team to find a group of impartial jurors. Last week, one of Mr. Weinstein’s attorneys, Mark Werksman,

said his defendant risked becoming “an ogre in the eyes of the jury” if certain evidence were admitted into the trial.

Later that day, lawyers asked potential jurors what they knew of Mr. Weinstein, and in particular how the guilty finding in New York might color their ruling in Los Angeles. One potential juror said she couldn’t bear to sit through a trial detailing sexual assault because her daughter had been raped. “The worst thing to ever happen to me,” she said.

Another woman took in Mr. Weinstein’s gaunt appearance and said, “Look at that poor man.”

The allegations in 2017 turned Mr. Weinstein into an outcast in an industry he had helped mold. Starting in the early 1990s, his company’s most popular movies—“Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” among them—garnered critical praise and robust box-office sales.

A number of his films won Oscars, but Mr. Weinstein was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2017 soon after the allegations surfaced.

Actor Danny Masterson was arrested and charged with three counts of rape in June 2020, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Press Pool

Mr. Weinstein’s case instigated a movement that soon stretched beyond Hollywood, taking on the moniker #MeToo. Several other prominent executives, politicians and celebrities were ousted following public #MeToo stories.

Down the hall from Mr. Weinstein at the courthouse is another such case: “That ‘70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, who was arrested and charged with three counts of rape in June 2020. Opening arguments in his trial took place last week, drawing a packed courtroom of spectators and reporters. Mr. Masterson has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Mr. Weinstein has sat mostly silent during the Los Angeles court proceedings, occasionally whispering to his attorneys. He wore an ill-fitted suit that slouched over his thinner frame. He is wheelchair-using, has high blood pressure and is missing some teeth, said his attorney, Mr. Werksman.

“This is an ordeal for him,” Mr. Werksman said.

Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Jurors will hear a case against Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles criminal court beginning this week. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said in one instance that the trial would begin next week. (Corrected on Oct. 23)