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Harvey Weinstein lawyers argued on Wednesday that “the casting sofa is not a crime scene” when they were showing a new effort to persuade a New York jury that the sexual crimes reported by the Hollywood magnate were consensual.
Last year, the highest court in New York canceled Weinstein's conviction in 2020 for sexual crimes and rape, ordering a new trial in the same Palais de Justice in Manhattan which originally heard the case which became a decisive moment of the #MeToo movement.
Weinstein73 years old, entered the courtroom by wheelchairs just after 10:30 am, welcoming the judge. Wearing a dark costume and glasses, he sometimes motioned and whispered to his lawyers while the prosecutors detailed graphic stories to the jury of seven women and five men.
Weinstein's condemnation for sexual assault and rape in 2020 came in the midst of a global calculation which was greeted as a breakthrough for women's rights. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district prosecutor at the time, said the verdict “turned the page in our judicial system”.
Dozens of senior men Hollywood And other industries have also been found guilty of sexual assault and other crimes against women.
However, Weinstein's lawyers won after arising that the additional testimony against the magnate by three women who were not unjust.
The new trial is also likely to be another test of attitudes towards women's rights in America by President Donald Trump, the lawyers of Weinstein already indicating that they hope that opinions on the #MeToo movement have moved to their client.
One of the lawyers of the magnate, Arthur Aidala, said last week that they “felt much better this time than the last time because of the atmosphere in the United States of America around #MeToo”. “At the time … said Fox's New York Affiliate. “It all left.”
Wednesday, Manhattan prosecutors argued that Weinstein, the Hollywood producer behind films such as pulp Fictionused his power to silence his victims for decades. “The script was Harvey Weinstein's most powerful tool. The film script, production, role, he used these dream opportunities as weapons,” said prosecutor Shannon Lucey.
“(Weinstein) committed these acts when he was at the top of the entertainment industry. He had all the power, they did not,” said Lucey.
Aidala said the accusers were liars who “lasted with him consensually” in exchange for jobs. “They quickly realized that Harvey Weinstein obtained the key to this room in which they all want to enter. And who is in this room? George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio. ”
“In Hollywood, they call it the casting sofa … For these three women, the casting sofa is not a crime scene. They tried to cut the line. And it was the guy who provided him. Should he have done? Absolutely not … but there are a lot of real estate between immorality and illegality. ”
This affair focuses on the accusations of three women: the production assistant Miriam Haley, who says that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006; Actress Jessica Mann, who says she was raped in 2013; And the model Kaja Sokola, who alleges that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in a hotel room at the age of 16.
“(Sokola) did not shout, she didn't kick … She cried,” said Lucey. “She said repeatedly:” Please don't do that “.”
Dawn Dunning, one of the women who testified against Weinstein in 2020, looked at the rear of the courtroom on Wednesday. She cried when the prosecutors detailed some of the most graphic parties of alleged sexual assaults.
Haley and Mann testified during the trial in 2020 and should return to court in the coming weeks.
“(Haley) does not want to testify. He is traumatic to relieve details on (Weinstein) force his body before the press, before the person who did this,” said Lucey. “Despite her fears, she will testify in this trial. Because Harvey Weinstein assaulted her sexually. ”
Weinstein has been detained in New York Rikers Island prison since his conviction in 2020. He was recently transferred to Bellevue Hospital for the new trial after his lawyers complained about “deplorable” conditions at Rikers. Weinstein has health problems, including cancer, according to a spokesperson.
Weinstein was also found guilty of sexual crimes in California in 2022, for which he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. His lawyers appeal this decision.
