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Rosie Perez, at Weinstein Trial, Backs Up Rape Allegation Rosie Perez, at Weinstein Trial, Backs Up Rape Allegation
(about 1 hour later)
One night, at the end of 1993, the actress Rosie Perez called her old friend, Annabella Sciorra, looking to go out and have some fun. Ms. Sciorra, a fellow Brooklyn actress, answered the phone in a strange voice. Ms. Perez asked her what was wrong. One night, at the end of 1993, Rosie Perez called her old friend, Annabella Sciorra, looking to go out and have some fun. Ms. Sciorra, a fellow Brooklyn actress, answered the phone in a strange whisper. Ms. Perez asked her what was wrong.
“She said, ‘I think I was raped,’” Ms. Perez testified on Friday in the Harvey Weinstein rape trial. Ms. Perez asked the inevitable question: “Do you know who did it?” “She said, ‘I think I was raped,’” Ms. Perez testified on Friday at Harvey Weinstein’s trial. Ms. Perez asked the inevitable question: “Do you know who did it?”
At the time, Ms. Sciorra could not, or would not, name her attacker. She broke into tears and said, “I can’t, I can’t, I’ve got to go,” Ms. Perez said. At the time, Ms. Sciorra could not, or would not, name her attacker. Instead, she broke into tears and said, “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,” and she hung up the phone, Ms. Perez said.
But in another call several months later, Ms. Perez added, a crying Ms. Sciorra identified the man she claimed had assaulted her: Mr. Weinstein. But in another call a few months later, Ms. Perez added, Ms. Sciorra finally identified the man she claimed had assaulted her: It was Mr. Weinstein.
“She swore me never to tell anybody,” Ms. Perez said. “I told her to go to the police, and she said: ‘I can’t. He will destroy me. He will destroy my career.’”“She swore me never to tell anybody,” Ms. Perez said. “I told her to go to the police, and she said: ‘I can’t. He will destroy me. He will destroy my career.’”
Ms. Perez appeared in court on Friday as a prosecution witness, called to the stand at Mr. Weinstein’s trial in Manhattan to bolster Ms. Sciorra’s own testimony that the producer had assaulted her in the winter months of 1993 or 1994. Ms. Perez appeared in court on Friday as a prosecution witness, called to the stand at the trial, in Manhattan, to bolster Ms. Sciorra’s own testimony that Mr. Weinstein assaulted her.
On Thursday, a tearful Ms. Sciorra, known for her work in “The Sopranos” and “Jungle Fever,” told the jury that Mr. Weinstein pushed his way into her Gramercy Park apartment and raped her after giving her a ride home from an “uneventful” dinner party. On Thursday, a tearful Ms. Sciorra, known for her work in “The Sopranos,” told the jury that Mr. Weinstein pushed his way into her Gramercy Park apartment and raped her after giving her a ride home from a dinner party.
Mr. Weinstein’s trial is widely seen as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement and has delved into complicated issues of consent and power dynamics in professional situations. Ms. Perez’s account touched upon another common aspect of sexual assaults: how women often delay reporting attacks and choose to live with them in silence. Mr. Weinstein’s trial is widely seen as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement and has delved into complicated issues of consent and power dynamics in professional situations. Ms. Perez’s account touched upon another common theme of sexual assaults: how women often delay reporting attacks and live with them in silence.
On cross-examination, Damon Cheronis, one of Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers, cut straight to that point. Under questioning, he got Ms. Perez to admit that, even though one of her best friends had just said she was raped, they did not speak for a couple of days. On cross-examination, Damon Cheronis, one of Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers, cut straight to that point. Under his questioning, Ms. Perez acknowledged that, even though one of her best friends had just said she was raped, they did not speak for a couple of days.
“I tried to — she didn’t want to talk about it,” Ms. Perez told the jury. “She was still very upset.”“I tried to — she didn’t want to talk about it,” Ms. Perez told the jury. “She was still very upset.”
Six women are testifying against Mr. Weinstein at his trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where he faces five felony counts, including rape and predatory sexual assault. Mr. Weinstein could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on the last charge. As months went by, Ms. Perez said, Ms. Sciorra would mention the alleged assault at times, but did not want share details.
The jury of seven men and five women are being asked to wade into complex questions about consent and power. Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers say the women who have accused him willingly had sex with him to advance their careers. Prosecutors say he manipulated them with promises of work, and then, once alone with the women, physically overpowered them. “It was very, very traumatic for her,” Ms. Perez said, “and it was traumatic for me.”
Mr. Weinstein was once a Hollywood giant, a feared executive who reshaped the independent movie industry with Oscar winners like “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction,” and who was a donor to former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats. Then in 1994, when Ms. Sciorra was in London filming “The Innocent Sleep,” the two friends spoke by phone. Ms. Sciorra told Ms. Perez that Mr. Weinstein was “harassing her” — he had banged on the door of her hotel room — and that she was “scared he was going to get her again,” Ms. Perez said.
But as the jury listened to gripping testimony this week from two of Mr. Weinstein’s accusers, the producer sat at the defense table quietly scribbling on a notepad and whispering to his lawyers. It was during that call, Ms. Perez told the jury, that she “put two and two together” and guessed it was Mr. Weinstein who Ms. Sciorra said had attacked her months earlier. “She started screaming,” Ms. Perez said. “And I tried to calm her down.”
Behind him in the courtroom gallery, a single longtime friend, Bill Currao, showed up to support Mr. Weinstein. Beside Mr. Currao were not Mr. Weinstein’s family members or other friends, but associates of the lawyers defending him. Six women are expected to testify against Mr. Weinstein at the trial. He is accused of five felony counts, including rape and predatory sexual assault, and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of the last charge.
The indictment only charges Mr. Weinstein with sexually assaulting two women: Mimi Haleyi, who was a production assistant on his show “Project Runway,” and a hairstylist and aspiring actress from Washington State, whom The New York Times is not naming because she is an alleged rape victim. His lawyers argue that the women who have accused him had sex with him willingly to advance their careers. Prosecutors claim he lured his accusers to meetings with promises of work, and then physically overpowered them.
Mr. Weinstein is accused of forcing oral sex on Ms. Haleyi in his TriBeCa apartment in 2006 and raping the actress at a Doubletree Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in 2013. The accusations against the producer came to a head in October 2017, when revelations about his alleged serial abuses were published in The New York Times and The New Yorker. More than 90 women have since come forward to accuse Mr. Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
As allegations about his mistreatment of women began to grow and circulate, the producer became increasingly concerned about “the nature of articles” that were set to be published about him, said Sam Anson, a private investigator who testified on Friday before Ms. Perez took the stand.
Two months before the articles in The Times and The New Yorker appeared, Mr. Anson said that he received an email from Mr. Weinstein asking him to investigate a list of “red flags,” people who Mr. Weinstein thought were speaking about him to the media. Among the targets was Ms. Sciorra.
“He was concerned that people on the list might be providing information to journalists,” Mr. Anson said, adding that Mr. Weinstein was also worried “that articles were being written about him that discussed his sexual life in a negative way.”
Mr. Anson never undertook an investigation.
Mr. Weinstein was once a Hollywood giant, a feared executive who reshaped the independent movie industry with Oscar winners like “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction,” and who was a big donor to former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats.
The indictment charges Mr. Weinstein with sexually assaulting two women: Mimi Haleyi, who was a production assistant on his show “Project Runway,” and a hairstylist and aspiring actress from Washington State, whom The Times is not naming because she is an alleged rape victim.
Mr. Weinstein is accused of forcing oral sex on Ms. Haleyi in his TriBeCa apartment in 2006 and raping the aspiring actress at a Doubletree Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in 2013.
Ms. Sciorra was called by prosecutors to bolster the charge of predatory sexual assault. The five-year time limit for filing a separate rape charge in the attack she described has long passed.Ms. Sciorra was called by prosecutors to bolster the charge of predatory sexual assault. The five-year time limit for filing a separate rape charge in the attack she described has long passed.
Justice James A. Burke has ruled that three other women can testify about their allegations that Mr. Weinstein attacked them, even though he is not charged with crimes in those cases. Justice James A. Burke is permitting three other women to testify about their allegations that Mr. Weinstein attacked them, even though he is not charged with crimes in those cases.
Prosecutors have the judge’s permission to use the testimony of those witnesses to establish that Mr. Weinstein has a longstanding pattern of preying on young women. A similar trial tactic helped lead to a conviction of Bill Cosby on a sexual assault charge in Pennsylvania. Prosecutors hope to use their testimony to establish that Mr. Weinstein has a longstanding pattern of preying on women. A similar trial tactic helped lead to a conviction of Bill Cosby on a sexual assault charge in Pennsylvania.
Earlier on Friday, Dr. Barbara Ziv, a forensic psychiatrist who provided expert testimony in Mr. Cosby’s second trial, explained to jurors in the Weinstein case why a woman might remain in contact with her attacker after an assault.Earlier on Friday, Dr. Barbara Ziv, a forensic psychiatrist who provided expert testimony in Mr. Cosby’s second trial, explained to jurors in the Weinstein case why a woman might remain in contact with her attacker after an assault.
The defense lawyers have told the jury that Ms. Haleyi and the aspiring actress from Washington State stayed in touch with Mr. Weinstein for years after they said he sexually assaulted them. They have pointed to hundreds of friendly emails and other communications the women exchanged with Mr. Weinstein. During opening statements, a defense lawyer told the jury that Ms. Haleyi and the aspiring actress from Washington State had stayed in touch with Mr. Weinstein for years after the alleged assaults. They have pointed to friendly emails the women exchanged with Mr. Weinstein as evidence that the sexual encounters were consensual.
In the actress’s case, the correspondence suggests that she continued to have an intimate relationship with him. But Dr. Ziv said it is common for sexual assault victims to stay in contact with their attackers if they know or work with them. One reason, she said, is a strong desire to move past the incident. Some victims also want to avoid hurting their jobs or reputations.
Prosecutors called Dr. Ziv to undermine the defense’s argument that the communications show that his encounters with his accusers were consensual. She said that it is common for sexual assault victims to stay in contact with an attacker if they know or work with the person. One reason, she said, is a desire to move past the incident. Some victims also want to avoid hurting their jobs or reputations. Sometimes, she added, the attacker will also threaten the victim into silence. Sometimes, she added, the attacker will threaten the victim into silence.
“There’s always a worry on the part of the victim that a perpetrator can invade other aspects of their life and ruin their life,” she said.“There’s always a worry on the part of the victim that a perpetrator can invade other aspects of their life and ruin their life,” she said.