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Weinstein’s Lawyer Says Accusers Had a Choice in Sexual Encounters Weinstein’s Lawyer Says Accusers Had a Choice in Sexual Encounters
(about 4 hours later)
A lawyer for Harvey Weinstein told jurors on Thursday that Mr. Weinstein was the victim of an “overzealous prosecution” and that prosecutors were creating an alternative world in which women are not responsible for their own behavior. A lawyer for Harvey Weinstein told jurors on Thursday that he was the victim of an “overzealous prosecution” and that prosecutors were acting like moviemakers, inventing an alternative world in which women are not responsible for their own behavior.
The lawyer, Donna Rotunno, said that “women have choices” and that Mr. Weinstein’s accusers had engaged in consensual and often transactional relationships with Mr. Weinstein to advance their own careers. During a five-hour closing argument, the lawyer, Donna Rotunno, argued that Mr. Weinstein’s accusers had chosen to engage in consensual and often transactional relationships with him to advance their own careers.
Ms. Rotunno said prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office — acting like moviemakers — had woven “a sinister tale” during Mr. Weinstein’s rape trial, depicting him as a monster and his accusers as innocent, passive victims. Ms. Rotunno said prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office had woven “a sinister tale” during Mr. Weinstein’s rape trial, depicting him as a monster and his accusers as innocent, passive victims. But, she asserted, the prosecution lacked the evidence to prove it.
“They are creating a universe in which they’re stripping adult women of common sense, autonomy and responsibility,” she said. “In their universe, women are not responsible for the parties they attend, the men they flirt with, the choices they make to further their own careers, the hotel room invitations and the plane tickets they accept.” “In their story, they have created a universe that strips adult women of common sense, autonomy, and responsibility,” she said. “In their universe women are not responsible for the parties they attend, the men they flirt with, the choices they make to further their own careers, the hotel room invitations, the plane tickets they accept, the jobs they ask for help to obtain.”
Ms. Rotunno’s arguments came as the trial was winding down. She implored the jury not to give in to public pressure, but to focus on the facts that were presented. The trial is widely seen as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement, which gained momentum in October 2017 after Mr. Weinstein was publicly accused of assaulting and harassing numerous women.
“You don’t have to like Mr. Weinstein — this is not a popularity contest. But you have to remember that we are not here to criminalize morality,” Ms. Rotunno said, adding moments later: “If you look at the evidence alone, they lose.” Mr. Weinstein, 67, a former powerhouse producer in Hollywood known for films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love, has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges, including rape, criminal sexual assault and predatory sexual assault. Prosecutors will present closing remarks on Friday. The jury of seven men and five women will begin deliberating on Tuesday.
Mr. Weinstein, 67, a former powerhouse producer in Hollywood who made the films “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has been on trial in State Supreme Court for the past month. Ms. Rotunno said her client had become “a target of a cause and of a movement.” She implored the jury not to give in to public pressure, but to focus on the facts in the case.
The trial is widely seen as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement, which gained momentum in 2017 after Mr. Weinstein was publicly accused of assaulting and harassing numerous women. He has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges, including rape, criminal sexual assault and predatory sexual assault. If convicted on the predatory assault charge, he would face up to life in prison. “You don’t have to like Mr. Weinstein — this is not a popularity contest. But you have to remember that we are not here to criminalize morality,” Ms. Rotunno said, adding moments later: “If you had to look at the evidence alone from their prospective, they lose.”
In all, six women took the stand and testified that Mr. Weinstein sexually assaulted them, though he faces charges based on the allegations of only two of them: Jessica Mann, a former actress who said he raped her in 2013, and Miriam Haley, a former production assistant who said he forced oral sex on her in 2006. For a month, Mr. Weinstein listened as six women took the stand and testified that he had sexually assaulted them. He declined to testify himself.
The presiding judge, Justice James M. Burke, has allowed the other women to testify about their own encounters so that prosecutors can establish a pattern of behavior, even though their allegations are too old to be charged as crimes under New York State law. The actress Annabella Sciorra, for instance, took the stand under the legal theory that her testimony would support the charges of predatory sexual assault. He faces charges based on the allegations of only two of his accusers: Jessica Mann, a former actress who testified that he raped her in a Midtown Manhattan hotel in 2013, and Miriam Haley, a former production assistant on his show “Project Runway,” who said he forced oral sex on her at his TriBeCa apartment in 2006.
In the early part of her remarks to the jury, Ms. Rotunno focused on Ms. Haley, suggesting she had used Mr. Weinstein to further her career and had kept in touch with him through seemingly friendly emails well after she said he had attacked them. Both women acknowledged on cross-examination that they not only had friendly communications with Mr. Weinstein after their alleged attacks, but later had consensual sex with him.
The presiding judge, Justice James M. Burke, allowed four other women to testify about their own encounters so that prosecutors can establish a pattern of behavior, even though their allegations are too old to be charged as crimes under New York State law. The actress Annabella Sciorra, for instance, took the stand under the legal theory that her testimony would support the charges of predatory sexual assault, which carry a life sentence.
Ms. Sciorra testified that Mr. Weinstein pushed his way into her apartment and raped her after giving her a ride home from a dinner party in the early 1990s. The other accusers — Tarale Wulff, Dawn Dunning and Lauren Young — were all aspiring actresses who said Mr. Weinstein lured them to hotels on the pretense of helping their careers, and then sexually assaulted them.
Over and over, Ms. Rotunno returned to her central theme that Mr. Weinstein’s accusers were not passive victims of assaults, but active participants in consensual acts. “Women have choices,” she said.
Ms. Rotunno said that Ms. Haley’s relationship with Mr. Weinstein was something close to a romance, which began after he had gotten her the “Project Runway” job. “They have to label it as a professional relationship because if they labeled it as what it was, we wouldn’t be here,” Ms. Rotunno said.
Ms. Haley had also used Mr. Weinstein to further her career, Ms. Rotunno said, and had kept in touch with him through seemingly friendly emails well after she said he had attacked them. One email asked how Mr. Weinstein was doing and was signed “lots of love.”
“She was using him for jobs,” Ms. Rotunno said.“She was using him for jobs,” Ms. Rotunno said.
Ms. Rotunno also suggested that Ms. Haley’s relationship with Mr. Weinstein was something close to a romance. “They have to label it as a professional relationship because if they labeled it as what it was, we wouldn’t be here,” she said of the prosecution. Ms. Rotunno argued that what Ms. Mann had described as a rape was sex between consenting adults. She said the evidence showed that Ms. Mann went willingly to Mr. Weinstein’s hotel room, got undressed and laid down on his bed. Ms. Mann never tried to stop Mr. Weinstein, and after the encounter, the lawyer said, she went to brunch with him.
Ms. Rotunno then went on to argue that what Ms. Mann had described as a rape by Mr. Weinstein was a consensual encounter. She insinuated that Ms. Mann herself was responsible for what had happened.
Ms. Mann, Ms. Rotunno said, went willingly to Mr. Weinstein’s hotel room, got undressed and laid down on his bed. She never tried to stop Mr. Weinstein or push him away, and after the encounter, the lawyer said, she went to brunch.
“This is not rape,” Ms. Rotunno said. “This is not sexual assault. This is someone who agrees to do what had been discussed.”“This is not rape,” Ms. Rotunno said. “This is not sexual assault. This is someone who agrees to do what had been discussed.”
Ms. Rotunno highlighted dozens of friendly and sometimes flirtatious emails Ms. Mann had sent to Mr. Weinstein from 2013 to 2017. In one email, after the alleged rape, she told Mr. Weinstein that he must see her. In another, she asked him for sponsorship into an exclusive club. Ms. Rotunno highlighted dozens of friendly and sometimes flirtatious emails Ms. Mann had sent to Mr. Weinstein from 2013 to 2017. Each time Ms. Mann got a new telephone number, Ms. Rotunno noted, she made sure Mr. Weinstein had it. “Five or six times she says, ‘Oh, here’s my new number,’” Ms. Rotunno said.
Each time Ms. Mann got a new telephone number, Ms. Rotunno said, she made sure Mr. Weinstein had it Ms. Sciorra, who gave some of the strongest testimony, had misremembered what happened, the defense lawyer argued. She pointed to evidence the actress had told a friend at the time that “she did something crazy” with Mr. Weinstein, but did not describe the encounter as rape.
“How do you reconcile five or six times she says, ‘Oh, here’s my new number,’” Ms. Rotunno said. Yet when a reporter reached out to Ms. Sciorra in 2017 about Mr. Weinstein’s treatment of women, Ms. Rotunno said: “She has changed her memories, and now she was raped. Now she is the darling of a movement.”
Years later, in an email in 2017, Ms. Mann expressed interest in pursuing criminal charges against Mr. Weinstein and acknowledged that the statute of limitations had ended for civil litigation in California. Ms. Rotunno said Ms. Young, Ms. Wulff and Ms. Dunning had also changed their stories over time, and she suggested they came forward only in the interest of fame.
Prosecutors will present closing remarks on Friday. The jury of seven men and five women will begin deliberating on Tuesday. She urged the jurors to consider how Mr. Weinstein’s accusers behaved and what they said in communications with him. The prosecution, she said, had created a fictional world — a “story that they spun” — where “women have no free will and no choice.”
“In that world, facts don’t matter,” Ms. Rotunno said. “In this world, facts matter. Evidence matters.”