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| Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty on rape and criminal sex act charges | |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Harvey Weinstein appeared in court in New York on Tuesday, to plead not guilty on rape and criminal sex act charges. | |
| A grand jury indicted the former film mogul last week on charges involving two women. Weinstein later posted bail for $1m. | |
| One alleged victim, who has not been identified publicly, told investigators Weinstein cornered her in a hotel room and raped her. The other accuser, Lucia Evans a former actor, has gone public with her account of Weinstein forcing her to perform oral sex at his office in 2004. | |
| Outside judge James Burke’s courtroom on Tuesday, the corridors were packed with photographers looking to get a clear sight of the producer. Weinstein was not expected to say much but this was still a momentous day in the downfall of a man who dozens of women have accused of sexual misconduct in what is likely to become the signature trial of the #MeToo movement. | |
| Shortly before Weinstein arrived, the celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred strode into court, showing the signature determination that famous men accused of sexual misconduct have come to recognise all too well. Allred sat in the public benches but her presence signaleld this was not a run-of-the-mill hearing. | |
| Weinstein then walked in with a limp, looking pale and taking in his surroundings. Seated between his attorneys, he said clearly in a low voice: “Not guilty.” | |
| Weinstein, 66, has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, has challenged the credibility of his alleged victims and says his client is confident he will clear his name. | |
| Brafman has called the rape allegation “absurd”, saying the accuser and Weinstein had a decade-long consensual sexual relationship that continued after the alleged 2013 attack. | Brafman has called the rape allegation “absurd”, saying the accuser and Weinstein had a decade-long consensual sexual relationship that continued after the alleged 2013 attack. |
| On Tuesday, Brafman said he wanted the case tried in the courtroom, not in the press. | |
| “Mr Weinstein today is presumed innocent,” he said. “He has denied these charges and intends to fight them. These cases have created a firestorm of publicity. My job is to defend specific allegations of sexual misconduct, not the issue of the Hollywood casting couch over the last 30 or 100 years.” | |
| Brafman then apologised for using the term “casting couch”, saying he would “never” use the phrase again. | |
| Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi rejected as “highly presumptuous” an accusation by the defense that prosecutors had been a source of leaks. | |
| Weinstein is next due in court on 20 July. | |
| Harvey Weinstein | |
| New York | New York |
| US crime | |
| MeToo movement | |
| Sexual harassment | |
| Rape and sexual assault | |
| news | news |
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