By Jack Queen
NEW YORK -Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer urged a jury on Tuesday to find the former movie mogul not guilty of rape and sexual assault charges, accusing the three alleged victims of lying on the witness stand out of spite after their consensual sexual encounters with him failed to deliver them Hollywood stardom.
In his closing argument in Weinstein’s retrial in a Manhattan court, defense attorney Arthur Aidala walked the 12 jurors through what he said were inconsistencies in the women’s testimony and email evidence he asserted undercut their claims that Weinstein had assaulted them.
Weinstein, who pleaded not guilty, is on trial for a second time after a state appeals court threw out his conviction in April 2024. Experiencing a litany of health problems, Weinstein was present in court in a wheelchair, wearing a dark suit and tie.
Weinstein, 73, is accused of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann and assaulting the two other women in what prosecutors have called a pattern in which the onetime Hollywood kingmaker used his power and influence to lure victims and then keep them silent. Mann told jurors during the trial, which that began in April, that Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in 2013.
“They are lying about what happened. Not about everything, but about a small slice – just enough to turn their regret, their buyers’ remorse, into criminality,” Aidala said of the accusers.
“Jessica Mann lied. She’s a liar,” Aidala said.
Prosecutors have portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who promised career advancement in Hollywood to women, only to then coax them into private settings where he attacked them. The Miramax studio co-founder has denied ever having non-consensual sex with anyone.
“Mr. Weinstein sits here an innocent man. The presumption of innocence … The only ones who can take that away are the 12 of you,” Aidala told the jurors.
Prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are set to deliver a closing argument later in the day.
Weinstein already will likely spend the rest of his life in prison due to a 16-year prison sentence for rape in California.
Weinstein was convicted of rape by a jury in the previous trial in Manhattan in February 2020, but the New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial, citing errors by the trial judge. Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York, when the conviction was overturned.
That conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men.
Weinstein has been held at New York City’s Rikers Island jail since his conviction was overturned. He has had several health scares while being held at Rikers, and in September was rushed to a hospital for emergency heart surgery.
During his opening statement on April 23, Aidala said the Oscar-winning producer had “mutually beneficial” relationships with his accusers, who ended up with auditions and other show business opportunities.
Bragg’s office originally accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raping Mann in 2013, charges he was convicted of in the first trial.
For the retrial, prosecutors added a new charge that Weinstein assaulted another woman in Manhattan in 2002.
The woman, Kaja Sokola of Poland, testified that Weinstein assaulted her in a Manhattan hotel room.
More than 100 women, including famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of misconduct. He has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex.
Miramax studio produced many hit movies in its heyday, including “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.”
Weinstein’s own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, five months after the original sexual misconduct accusations became widely publicized.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
