New York (AFP) – Prosecutors in Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault retrial described how he ignored pleas to stop and abused his position to make his victims “feel small,” as a majority-female New York jury heard opening statements on Wednesday. The trial, which began with jury selection last week, will force survivors, who helped spark the “MeToo” movement against sexual violence and harassment, to prepare to testify against Weinstein once more.
Weinstein, who was brought into Manhattan criminal court in a wheelchair and was dressed in a dark business suit, glanced occasionally at the jury as Judge Curtis Farber delivered instructions. His 2020 conviction was overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original New York trial was unlawful. Farber has said he expects presentation of evidence to last five to six weeks. Jury selection took just over a week and was concluded after many members of the jury pool indicated they could not give Weinstein a fair trial because of what they knew of the highly publicized case. A full jury of 12 panelists and six alternates was finally seated Tuesday with seven women and five men picked.
The former Miramax studio boss was charged with the 2006 sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi, the 2013 rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann, and also on a new count for an alleged sexual assault in 2006 at a hotel in Manhattan. Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey recounted Weinstein’s alleged attacks in graphic detail, saying Haleyi had begged him to stop, but that he had “all the power…he made all these women feel small.” Haleyi and Mann testified in the earlier trial, sharing graphic accounts of their interactions with Weinstein.
The 73-year-old has said he hopes the case will be judged with “fresh eyes,” more than seven years after investigations by The New York Times and the New Yorker led to his spectacular downfall and a global backlash against predatory abusers. Weinstein is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted on separate charges in California in 2023 for raping and assaulting a European actress a decade prior. The producer of a string of box office hits such as “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” Weinstein has battled health issues.
“It’ll be very, very different because of the attitude of New York City, New York state and, I think, the overall country,” his lawyer Arthur Aidala said ahead of jury selection. Weinstein has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual. Accusers describe the movie mogul as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actresses and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.
Since his downfall, Weinstein has been accused of harassment, sexual assault or rape by more than 80 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong’o, and Ashley Judd. In 2020, a jury of New Yorkers convicted him on two out of five charges — the sexual assault of Haleyi and the rape of Mann. But the conviction and the 23-year prison sentence were overturned in April 2024. In a hotly debated four-to-three decision, New York’s appeals court ruled that jurors should not have heard testimonies of victims about sexual assaults for which Weinstein was not indicted.
© 2024 AFP
