Authorized observers talk about the shared elements that might sway juries within the felony rape trials for the previous mogul and 'That 70’s Present' star.
Two of probably the most high-profile, intently watched felony instances of the #MeToo period are headed to trial in October, beginning inside a day of one another. Harvey Weinstein and Danny Masterson will face juries on the Clara Shortridge Foltz courthouse in downtown L.A., defending towards allegations that they raped a number of ladies.
Weinstein is charged with 11 counts of intercourse crimes, together with rape, in reference to the assaults of 5 ladies from 2004 to 2013, which cumulatively carry a sentence of as much as 140 years. Masterson is charged with three counts of rape between 2001 and 2003, which collectively might imply as much as 45 years in jail. Each have steadfastly maintained their innocence.
Forward of the trials, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with authorized observers who word that sexual assault exists in a particular area of legislation. A statute within the California proof code will permit jurors to make use of particular person prices to corroborate others and to contemplate proof involving prior dangerous acts.
A extensively wielded although little mentioned statute will permit the juries to contemplate the instances of their entirety, versus individually assessing every cost.
“When you may have a number of acts of alleged sexual violence, every act is usable to corroborate the information of the others,” says Halim Dhanidina, a former prosecutor and decide who's now a felony protection lawyer.
In keeping with the Judicial Council of California Advisory Committee on Legal Jury Directions, if jurors discover that prosecutors “proved past an affordable doubt that the defendant dedicated a number of” of the crimes, they could conclude he “was disposed or inclined to commit sexual offenses” and, based mostly on that, attain the conclusion that he's responsible of the opposite prices too.
“The proof statute just isn't reported sufficient, contemplating the function it performs in intercourse crimes charged each day within the justice system,” Dhanidina notes. “It may take two or extra particular person weak instances and [really] make them an overwhelmingly robust case.”
In Masterson’s case, prosecutors allege a sample of habits, which attorneys say is a crucial issue. Masterson is accused of inviting every of the ladies to his Hollywood Hills dwelling, giving them a drink that made them really feel discombobulated and dragging them right into a jacuzzi earlier than taking them upstairs and raping them. “That’s the MO,” says Dhanidina, who emphasizes the consistency of the accounts. “Using drugging to incapacitate complaining witnesses, together with the recent tub, is a compelling piece of proof.”
Notes felony protection lawyer Julia Jayne: “Within the absence of bodily proof the place instances are outdated, it provides a number of weight to the prosecution’s case. It offers extra context to the connection as a result of the protection goes to say it was consensual.” (Prior dangerous acts, even when uncharged, will be launched into trial, although police declined to press prices.)
Certainly one of Masterson’s accusers reported her alleged rape to police in 2004. Despite the fact that no prices had been filed towards the actor, who didn’t reply to requests for remark, prosecutors might introduce that report. In the meantime, Weinstein faces the identical hurdle of prosecutors presenting proof of “prior dangerous acts.” Along with the 5 Jane Does whose accounts are associated to the fees, 4 different ladies will testify that Weinstein assaulted them. (L.A. decide Lisa Lench is excluding testimony from actresses Rose McGowan and Daryl Hannah, the previous as a result of most of the accounts had been newer than McGowan’s and the latter as a result of Hannah didn’t allege assault.)
Weinstein appealed his New York conviction based mostly on the introduction of prior dangerous acts testimony from three ladies, however the appeals courtroom in June discovered that proof of the mogul’s alleged uncharged crimes was honest sport to counter the protection’s arguments that Weinstein believed his accusers consented.
Juda Engelmayer, a consultant for Weinstein, says the extraneous data taints the producer’s picture and shouldn’t be allowed. He tells THR that it’s “patent prejudicial overkill, purely supposed to color the darkest portrait of Harvey to make sure jurors are so horrified they really feel they haven't any different alternative.”
Awaiting trial, Weinstein sits in L.A.’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the place he’s persevering with to serve his present 23-year sentence. (The jury in his L.A. trial can be allowed to contemplate his New York conviction.) As with Masterson, prosecutors are anticipated to current a constant narrative: Weinstein weaponized his Hollywood mogul standing to lure ladies with leisure aspirations into accommodations, the place he would nook and assault them.
The attorneys consulted by THR say they anticipate that state legislation involving proof in sexual assault trials to weigh strongly towards each males.
Notes Joshua Ritter, a protection lawyer and former L.A. prosecutor, “Every allegation from every particular person sufferer may not be all that robust if it was alone, however while you put all of them collectively, it’s nearly insurmountable.”
This story first appeared within the Oct. 5 concern of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click on right here to subscribe.