NEW YORK (AP).— After years of #MeToo complaints, legal danger and prison, Harvey Weinstein is back on trial on a rape charge in New York.
Jury selection began yesterday in the latest trial of the former movie mogul, in which jurors will weigh, for the third time, whether he raped stylist and actress Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.
This time, jurors will consider only one charge based on a single accuser, rather than the range of allegations laid out in Weinstein’s previous trials in New York and Los Angeles.
The Oscar-winning producer denies all allegations and testified in court this winter that he had “acted badly, but I never attacked anyone.”
Prosecutors could also try to introduce new evidence. Weinstein arrived in court yesterday, but before jury selection began Manhattan Deputy District Attorney Candace White told the judge that prosecutors could seek to include testimony from a court security officer about something Weinstein allegedly said six years ago.
According to White, the agent claimed that he was present at Weinstein’s sentencing reading for sexual assault in February 2020, which was later overturned, and heard Weinstein say: “If you had seen these girls, you would have done exactly the same thing.”
Weinstein’s lawyers urged Judge Curtis Farber to keep any mention of the alleged comment out of the upcoming trial. “It is already too late” to introduce it, said defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo. The judge did not rule immediately.
The first group of 100 potential jurors was brought into the room for an initial evaluation. The judge has reviewed some decisions about exactly what evidence will be presented about the years of interactions between Weinstein and Mann.
For example, the judge said a claims fund that was set up for women who said Weinstein sexually abused them may not be mentioned, in part because the defense team has no intention of raising the issue. Additionally, the judge indicated he could limit discussion of an erectile dysfunction drug that Mann said Weinstein used.
Agnifilo and his partners took on the case in February, when Weinstein’s longtime attorney, Arthur Aidala, stepped away from the retrial to focus on the former studio head’s appeals and civil matters. Both Aidala and Agnifilo are well-known New York defense attorneys, but their litigation styles differ. Aidala is somewhat more informal, while Agnifilo is more strict.
Weinstein exerted considerable influence in the entertainment industry, having built his reputation with critical and popular hits such as “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat.” He also became a prominent Democratic donor.
Then, in 2017, a series of allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against Weinstein began to emerge in the media, fueling the #MeToo movement.
He was criminally charged in New York in 2018 and in Los Angeles two years later. Weinstein went to trial and was found guilty of some, but not all, of the charges in both cases.
Their initial convictions in New York were overturned, prompting a new trial last year.
The verdict in the retrial was mixed: Weinstein was convicted of forcing production assistant and producer Miriam Haley to perform oral sex on him in 2006, but was acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex on model-turned-psychotherapist Kaja Sokola. The jury was deadlocked on the rape charge involving Mann because the jury foreman refused to continue deliberating.
Weinstein later considered pleading guilty, according to Aidala. Apparently, Weinstein ultimately rejected the idea.
Mann has testified that she had a consensual, on-again, off-again relationship with Weinstein, who was married at the time. But when he cornered her in a Manhattan hotel room where she was staying during a weekend getaway, she protested: “I don’t want to do this,” she told jurors. She claimed he continued to make advances and demands until she “just gave up.”
Weinstein has not testified at any of his trials, but his lawyers have maintained that he never had sex without consent.
The defense claimed that Mann and his other accusers willingly accepted his sexual advances because they wanted his help with their entertainment aspirations. The women, on the other hand, said that Weinstein made them see his influence in Hollywood to draw them into his orbit and then victimize them.
His conviction for sexual assault involving Haley carries the possibility of up to 25 years in prison, no sentencing date has been set.
In this case, the rape charge is a lower-level felony punishable by up to four years behind bars. Weinstein, 73, has already served more time than that.
Weinstein has various health problems and uses a wheelchair. He told the judge in January that he is haunted by the possibility that he could die in New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail.
“My mental state is collapsing. … My spirit is breaking,” he said.
Weinstein’s lawyers have argued that his conviction in New York last year was tainted by juries. Meanwhile, he is appealing the Los Angeles verdict.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people without their permission if they say they have been sexually assaulted. Haley, Mann and Sokola agreed to be named.
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