In New York, the jury began deliberating Harvey Weinstein’s retrial for sex crimes on Thursday, a case that became a focal point of the #MeToo movement.
The jury of seven women and five men is reviewing two counts of criminal sex act and one count of rape, each involving a different accuser and date. The charge of criminal sex act carries a higher-degree felony. Deliberations commenced after an alternate juror replaced one who was unable to attend due to illness.
Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty.
Nearly a decade ago, a wave of sexual misconduct allegations against the acclaimed movie producer sparked the #MeToo movement. Some of these allegations resulted in criminal charges and convictions in New York and California.
The New York conviction from 2020 was subsequently overturned, leading to the retrial before a new jury and a different judge.
Jurors heard more than five weeks of testimony, including lengthy and sometimes fiery questioning of Weinstein’s three accusers in the case.
Jessica Mann said he raped her in 2013, when she was trying to build an acting career. Miriam Haley accused him of forcibly performing oral sex on her in 2006, when she was looking for work in entertainment production.
Kaja Sokola, who wasn’t involved in Weinstein’s first trial, told jurors that he forced oral sex on her, too, during 2006. At the time, she was a teenage fashion model trying to break into acting.
“They all had dreams of pursuing careers in the defendant’s world, the entertainment industry,” prosecutor Nicole Blumberg told jurors in her closing argument Tuesday. She contended that Weinstein let the women think he was interested in their careers when what actually interested him were their bodies, and “he was going to have their bodies and touch their bodies whether they wanted him to or not.”
Weinstein chose not to testify. His defense called other witnesses, including some former friends of Sokola’s and Mann’s.
Weinstein’s attorneys argued that all three accusers consented to Weinstein’s advances because they wanted help with their Hollywood aims. All three stayed on friendly terms with him afterward, a point the defense emphasized.
“It’s transactional, folks. Yes, he wants to fool around with them, and yes, they want something from him,” defense lawyer Arthur Aidala said in his summation Tuesday.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people without their permission if they say they have been sexually assaulted. Sokola, Mann and Haley have agreed to be named.
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