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| Weinstein Trial Begins, 2 Years After Accusations Led to #MeToo | Weinstein Trial Begins, 2 Years After Accusations Led to #MeToo |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| In Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein was a man of seemingly infinite power, not only making Oscar-winning films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” but also helping make careers. | In Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein was a man of seemingly infinite power, not only making Oscar-winning films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” but also helping make careers. |
| But on Wednesday morning, Mr. Weinstein arrived at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building to face charges that even as he ruled over the movie business in New York and Los Angeles, he was a sexual predator, a serial abuser who repeatedly used his influence and imposing physicality to overpower women in his orbit. | But on Wednesday morning, Mr. Weinstein arrived at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building to face charges that even as he ruled over the movie business in New York and Los Angeles, he was a sexual predator, a serial abuser who repeatedly used his influence and imposing physicality to overpower women in his orbit. |
| “The evidence will be clear that the man seated right there was not just a titan in Hollywood, but a rapist,” a prosecutor, Meghan Hast, said in her opening statement, gesturing to Mr. Weinstein. | “The evidence will be clear that the man seated right there was not just a titan in Hollywood, but a rapist,” a prosecutor, Meghan Hast, said in her opening statement, gesturing to Mr. Weinstein. |
| The start of the trial, one of the most anticipated criminal proceedings in recent memory, has attracted news media from around the globe and will delve into the issues of consent and power in professional relationships. Early Wednesday, dozens of reporters from as far away as Germany and South America lined up in front of the courthouse in Manhattan. | |
| It also capped a year and a half of legal wrangling by Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers, who have sought for months to contain, delay and derail the process with attempts to limit witnesses, remove the judge from the case and relocate the trial from what they have described as the “carnival-like atmosphere” of Manhattan. | It also capped a year and a half of legal wrangling by Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers, who have sought for months to contain, delay and derail the process with attempts to limit witnesses, remove the judge from the case and relocate the trial from what they have described as the “carnival-like atmosphere” of Manhattan. |
| The defense’s opening statement was expected on Wednesday afternoon. Justice James A. Burke, the state judge overseeing the trial, has banned reporters from transmitting live updates from the courtroom. | |
| Mr. Weinstein, 67, faces charges that he raped one aspiring actress in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forced oral sex on a production assistant, Mimi Haleyi, in his TriBeCa apartment in 2006. | Mr. Weinstein, 67, faces charges that he raped one aspiring actress in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forced oral sex on a production assistant, Mimi Haleyi, in his TriBeCa apartment in 2006. |
| Mr. Weinstein, who recently had back surgery, made his way up the courthouse steps just before 9:15 a.m., his weight sometimes supported by two men as he struggled to stay upright. It was the first time he had entered the courthouse without his tennis-ball-studded walker in weeks. Just steps from the door, he stumbled between the men, as though he were about to fall. Another man, walking behind the group, carried the walker. | Mr. Weinstein, who recently had back surgery, made his way up the courthouse steps just before 9:15 a.m., his weight sometimes supported by two men as he struggled to stay upright. It was the first time he had entered the courthouse without his tennis-ball-studded walker in weeks. Just steps from the door, he stumbled between the men, as though he were about to fall. Another man, walking behind the group, carried the walker. |
| The trial will hinge on the testimony of six women, four of whose allegations are too old to prosecute in court. But the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is handling the case, is hoping that its courtroom presentation will show that Mr. Weinstein engaged in a pattern of sexual predation. | |
| Opening statements started at 10:15 a.m., as Ms. Hast led the jury through nearly 30 years of Mr. Weinstein’s mistreatment of women. The litany of abuse, the prosecutor said, began in the early 1990s, when Mr. Weinstein raped the up-and-coming actress Annabella Sciorra, who was later known for her work in “The Sopranos.” | Opening statements started at 10:15 a.m., as Ms. Hast led the jury through nearly 30 years of Mr. Weinstein’s mistreatment of women. The litany of abuse, the prosecutor said, began in the early 1990s, when Mr. Weinstein raped the up-and-coming actress Annabella Sciorra, who was later known for her work in “The Sopranos.” |
| After meeting at an Irish bar in Lower Manhattan one night, Ms. Hast told the jury, Mr. Weinstein dropped Ms. Sciorra off at her apartment, forced his way inside and began unbuttoning his shirt. Ms. Sciorra thought that she could flee into the bathroom, Ms. Hast said, but Mr. Weinstein pushed her onto a bed, pinned her arms above her head and raped her. | After meeting at an Irish bar in Lower Manhattan one night, Ms. Hast told the jury, Mr. Weinstein dropped Ms. Sciorra off at her apartment, forced his way inside and began unbuttoning his shirt. Ms. Sciorra thought that she could flee into the bathroom, Ms. Hast said, but Mr. Weinstein pushed her onto a bed, pinned her arms above her head and raped her. |
| For decades after the attack, Ms. Hast recounted, Mr. Weinstein made Ms. Sciorra “live in terror,” seeking her out whenever she filmed movies, leaving messages for her and showing up at hotels she was staying in. | For decades after the attack, Ms. Hast recounted, Mr. Weinstein made Ms. Sciorra “live in terror,” seeking her out whenever she filmed movies, leaving messages for her and showing up at hotels she was staying in. |
| Once, according to Ms. Hast, when Ms. Sciorra was placed in a hotel room next to Mr. Weinstein’s during a film festival, she opened her door to find him standing in the hallway in his underwear, with a bottle of baby oil in one hand and a videotape in the other. | Once, according to Ms. Hast, when Ms. Sciorra was placed in a hotel room next to Mr. Weinstein’s during a film festival, she opened her door to find him standing in the hallway in his underwear, with a bottle of baby oil in one hand and a videotape in the other. |
| Ms. Haleyi, who went public with her story in 2017, met Mr. Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 and soon took a job as a production assistant on Mr. Weinstein’s show “Project Runway,” Ms. Hast said. For the next few months, according to the prosecutor, Mr. Weinstein pressured Ms. Haleyi, offering her trips to Paris and Los Angeles. Eventually, Ms. Hast told the jury, Ms. Haleyi went to Mr. Weinstein’s apartment, where he forced oral sex on her. | |
| “Miriam decided to just check out,” Ms. Hast said, referring to Ms. Haleyi’s given name. “She tried to endure the violent sexual assault Harvey Weinstein was perpetrating on her.” | “Miriam decided to just check out,” Ms. Hast said, referring to Ms. Haleyi’s given name. “She tried to endure the violent sexual assault Harvey Weinstein was perpetrating on her.” |
| Weeks after the first assault, Ms. Hast said, Ms. Haleyi met Mr. Weinstein at a hotel in TriBeCa, and he attacked her again. “She laid there emotionless, like a dead fish,” the prosecutor said. | |
| Ms. Hast said a third accuser, whom The New York Times is not naming because she is a rape victim, she moved to Los Angeles at age 25, looking for “a break in the entertainment industry” after being raised in an evangelical church in a small town in Washington State. | |
| A few years later — as “a starving actress” — she met Mr. Weinstein at a party and accepted his invitation to join him in a hotel room, where she gave him a massage even though she felt he was “old enough to be her father” and was “overweight and sloppy looking,” Ms. Hast said. | |
| At a subsequent meeting in Los Angeles, Ms. Hast said, Mr. Weinstein kissed the actress and forced her into receiving oral sex. Ultimately, Ms. Hast told the jury, the woman “tried to have a relationship” with Mr. Weinstein, believing “there was no way to get out” without harming her career. | |
| Then, on March 18, 2013, the actress met Mr. Weinstein for a breakfast meeting at the Doubletree Hotel on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. It was her first time in New York. After taking her to his room, Mr. Weinstein undressed her, and then climbed on top of her and raped her, Ms. Hast said. | |
| Eight months later, Ms. Hast said, Mr. Weinstein raped the woman for a second time, ripping off her pants and violently spreading her legs. After the attack, Ms. Hast told the jury, Mr. Weinstein told the actress: “I just find you so attractive. I couldn’t resist you.” | |
| Emily Palmer contributed reporting. | Emily Palmer contributed reporting. |