Attorneys delivered opening statements on Wednesday within the New York retrial of Harvey Weinstein, with prosecutors accusing the disgraced movie producer of utilizing his immense energy in Hollywood to sexually harass and abuse three girls.
“The defendant needed their our bodies, and the extra they resisted, the extra forceful he bought,” Assistant District Lawyer Shannon Lucey informed jurors on Wednesday.
In his third trial in 5 years, Weinstein is accused of sexually abusing a former tv manufacturing assistant, an aspiring actress and a mannequin.
The previous movie mogul has pleaded not responsible, and in court docket his lawyer sought to solid doubt on the ladies’s claims and credibility.
Lawyer Arthur Aidala informed the jury the prosecution case would “fall flat on its face” after they heard all of the proof.
“They’ll ask you to make sense of issues that simply do not make sense,” he stated.
A court docket of appeals overturned Weinstein’s earlier conviction for intercourse crimes in New York final April, earlier than he was indicted on new sexual assault prices within the state in September.
Final week, 12 jurors – seven girls and 5 males – had been chosen to weigh Weinstein’s destiny.
On Wednesday, Ms Lucey spent an hour delivering a gap assertion, telling jurors that three girls had fallen sufferer to the abuse of a “Hollywood gatekeeper” who held “unfettered energy for over 30 years in that trade”.
The retrial in New York is centred on two girls who introduced allegations in opposition to Weinstein for his 2020 trial, actress Jessica Mann and former TV manufacturing assistant Miriam Haley. This time, the trial additionally consists of allegations from former Polish mannequin and actress Kaja Sokola, who has accused Weinstein of assaulting her when she was 16.
On Wednesday, Ms Lucey recounted the three girls’s tales of assault and harassment, sparing few particulars. The alleged encounters usually concerned Weinstein bringing girls to his room below the guise of a enterprise assembly, earlier than he allegedly compelled himself onto them.
Victims “saved their disgrace and their ache to themselves” for years due to Weistein’s position as a person who “outlined the sphere” of appearing and movie, Ms Lucey stated.
Throughout his hour of opening statements that adopted, Weinstein’s lawyer took a combative strategy, accusing the ladies of getting “mutually helpful” sexual relationships with Weinstein and being motivated by cash.
“These girls are hooked on that fame,” Mr Aidala stated. “They need to be heroes.”
Mr Aidala argued that Weinstein couldn’t have assaulted the ladies as a result of they saved involved with him and despatched him pleasant messages after the encounters.
Final April, a court docket of appeals stated Weinstein, now 73, didn’t obtain a good trial in New York in 2020 as a result of the choose overseeing his case allowed testimony from girls who made allegations in opposition to him for conduct he was by no means charged over.
Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York jail after being convicted.
He was additionally discovered responsible of rape in a separate trial in California in 2022 and was sentenced to 16 years in that case.
Weinstein has a number of medical circumstances, together with most cancers and diabetes. In September, he was taken to hospital for coronary heart surgical procedure and has been held in a safe hospital unit.
A choose has permitted a request from Weinstein’s legal professionals to let him keep on the Bellevue hospital in Manhattan when he isn’t in court docket.
His legal professionals had complained that he was receiving poor medical therapy in unhygienic circumstances on the notorious Rikers Island jail facility – which officers have lengthy stated they plan to shut – although the transfer has been delayed.
In complete, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by greater than 100 girls.
He’s prone to spend the remainder of his life in jail, as he has but to start serving his 16-year California sentence.
The choice by his accusers to come back ahead, and his subsequent conviction in New York, galvanised the #MeToo motion in opposition to intercourse abuse by highly effective males.
Talking to jurors on Wednesday, Ms Lucey stated the motion had allowed the three girls to come back ahead within the felony case in opposition to Weinstein after they “all of a sudden realized they weren’t alone”.
Earlier than the allegations in opposition to him emerged, Weinstein and his brother Bob had been amongst Hollywood’s final energy gamers.
Weinstein co-founded Miramax movie studio, whose hits included Shakespeare in Love, which received greatest image on the Academy Awards, and Pulp Fiction.
His movies have acquired greater than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 wins.
The previous movie mogul has additionally confronted various civil lawsuits, together with from a bunch of girls who accused him of sexual harassment and rape and reached a $19m (£14.2) settlement with him in 2020.
