The trial culminated with the prosecution emphasizing the constant sample throughout the alleged sexual assaults.
Over the course of 5 weeks, 44 witnesses have testified in Harvey Weinstein’s trial over accusations that he sexually assaulted 4 ladies and 4 others whose accusations didn’t result in expenses.
Prosecutors, wrapping up their closing arguments on Friday, mentioned that the Jane Doe accusers and witnesses individually got here ahead with out figuring out one another’s tales to take down a “titan of the movie trade” who weaponized his energy to “prey on ladies” in his orbit. They detailed a constant sample throughout the assaults.
Advancing a clashing portrayal of the allegations, a lawyer for Weinstein countered that his accusers both outright lied in regards to the incidents or engaged in “transactional intercourse.” He argued that prosecutors provided so many witnesses — particularly these whose claims aren’t on the heart of the trial — to prop up what the protection described as a weak case.
“Take my phrase for it — 5 phrases that sum up the whole lot of the prosecution’s case,” mentioned Alan Jackson, representing Weinstein. He mentioned that Jane Does No. 1 and a pair of “merely lied,” arguing that they provided “far-fetched, unsupported tales,” whereas Jane Does No. 3 and 4 had consensual intercourse with Weinstein to additional their careers.
A Los Angeles jury of 9 males and three ladies will now vet the credibility of the accusers and witnesses to resolve Weinstein’s guilt. He’s charged with seven counts of intercourse crimes, together with rape, in reference to the assaults of 4 ladies from 2004 to 2013. Halfway by means of the trial, 4 expenses tied to a fifth Jane Doe have been dropped with out rationalization. The disgraced film mogul is at present serving a 23-year sentence after being convicted in New York.
Throughout closing arguments, protection lawyer Jackson extensively challenged testimony from 4 witnesses who testified about uncharged sexual assaults. He keyed in on the account of Ambra B., who met Weinstein at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor in 2015 and was urged by her agent to take a gathering with him. She reported Weinstein to legislation enforcement after he allegedly groped her breasts and put his hand up her skirt.
“In case you don’t belief me then we've got no motive to do something and you'll lose massive alternatives,” Weinstein mentioned to her at a gathering following the incident in a police sting.
Prosecutors spent the vast majority of their closing arguments arguing that Weinstein’s alleged rape of Ambra B. demonstrates a “recorded sample” throughout his assaults. They pressured how he used the provide of a gathering to debate her profession as bait to lure her into an remoted resort room, just like the Jane Doe accusers, to assault her. Marlene Martinez, a deputy district lawyer, mentioned that the eight ladies who testified within the trial described equivalent accounts of how they have been assaulted.
“These are 8 ladies who have no idea one another,” Martinez mentioned. “They’ve by no means even met. But all of them describe the identical conduct by the identical man.”
In a single alleged assault, Weinstein allegedly barged into Jane Doe No. 1’s resort room, the place he pulled the actress into the toilet, pushed her over the sink and raped her. In one other incident, Weinstein backed Jane Doe No. 3 right into a nook, reached inside her shirt to grope her breasts and masturbated onto the ground — one other widespread aspect throughout the alleged assaults.
Weinstein’s lawyer Jackson urged the jury to disregard Ambra B.’s testimony, arguing that she’s solely a “named witness, not a Jane Doe.” He mentioned that that different accusers had entry to the main points of her allegations, implying that they coordinated their accounts.
“They need to use this proof to pile onto Harvey Weinstein,” Jackson added, referring to prosecutors providing 4 named witnesses testifying about uncharged sexual crimes along with quite a few corroborating witnesses backing up their accounts that they have been assaulted. “It has nothing to do with the precise proof on this case.”
The protection pressured jury directions directing jurors to disregard testimony from a witness who they consider lied on the stand.
In trials involving sexual assault, a statute within the California proof code permits jurors to make use of particular person expenses to corroborate others and to contemplate proof involving prior dangerous acts, even when they didn’t result in expenses. Weinstein appealed his conviction in New York, which was rejected, on the idea that such testimony from three ladies improperly tainted the jury in opposition to him. He’s anticipated to do the identical if he’s convicted in Los Angeles.
The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t usually title individuals who say they have been sexually assaulted until they voluntarily come ahead. A number of of the ladies who testified in opposition to Weinstein have disclosed that they have been assaulted.
Amongst them is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who was a comparatively unknown actress when she met Weinstein on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant in 2005 earlier than marrying Gov. Gavin Newsom. She testified that Weinstein raped her after their preliminary encounter throughout a gathering he set as much as focus on her profession, bursting into tears when requested to establish the disgraced film mogul.
“He’s carrying a swimsuit and a blue tie, and he’s looking at me,” she mentioned from the witness stand.
Weinstein has maintained that he and Siebel Newsom had consensual intercourse in what his lawyer known as a “transactional relationship,” like he had with Jane Doe No. 3. Jackson mentioned she had intercourse with Weinstein dozens of instances, buying and selling on the entry that he might present her. He additionally claimed that she introduced her allegations too late.
On rebuttal, Deputy District Legal professional Paul Thompson questioned why the protection would elevate the difficulty of the statute of limitations when Weinstein maintains that he didn’t assault her.
“The actual fact they’re contesting that is actually telling,” he mentioned.
The prosecutor challenged arguments that Siebel Newsom gained something from her relationship with Weinstein.
“If that is transactional, what did she get?” he requested. The prosecutor additionally emphasised Weinstein’s lawyer Mark Werksman calling Siebel Newsom “simply one other bimbo that slept with Harvey Weinstein to get forward” by making herself a “distinguished sufferer.” He mentioned she made herself a goal of undesirable consideration by changing into part of the case.
In his ultimate remarks, Thompson directed jurors to take a look at a constant methodology through which Weinstein allegedly assaulted his eight accusers.
“You'll be able to inform from the sample that Weinstein raped the ladies who testified on this case,” he mentioned.
The argument capped off the prosecution to the 5 week trial on the ninth flooring courtroom of the Clara Shortridge Foltz prison courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.