By Jennifer Peltz and Michael R. Sisak
NEW YORK (AP) – Harvey Weinstein lawyers had their turn on Thursday to question a woman who alleges that Hollywood heavy goods vehicles have held it and forced oral sex on her almost two decades.
Miriam Haley, testifying for a third day to the new trial of Weinstein, was toasted on the details of her memories – as exactly how she once calmed an apartment building door – and the overview of her history.
Defense lawyer Jennifer Bonjean stressed that Haley, who was looking for entertainment production work, remained in touch with Weinstein despite his humiliation when he complimented his legs and asked him for a massage at a meeting a few months before the alleged assault in 2006.
“Did you understand that it was sexual openings?” Bonjean asked.
Haley said she did it.
“You pushed them back, and he always gave you his phone number, right?”
“Yes,” said Haley, who obtained a short concert on the “project track” produced by Weinstein shortly after this meeting, which occurred in the hotel suite of his company at the 2006 Cannes Festival.
Haley has repeatedly said that she was only looking for job opportunities, nothing else, from Weinstein.
Bonjean also argued with the witness about his decision to explode a lawyer and hold a press conference broadcast to his allegations while the #MeToo movement exploded in October 2017, fueled by the claims of other women according to which the Oscar -winning producer had assaulted them or sexually harassed.
Witness Mimi Haley arrives to testify in the case against the former film producer Harvey Weinstein at the Manhattan State Court on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago / Pool Photo via AP)
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Witness Mimi Haley arrives to testify in the case against the former film producer Harvey Weinstein at the Manhattan State Court on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago / Pool Photo via AP)
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Weinstein, 73, pleaded not guilty and denies sexual assault. His lawyers argue that all of his accusers have agreed to sexual meetings in the hope of working in the show business.
Haley, who also fell under the name of Mimi Haleyi, is the first of the three accusers who should testify during the new trial. She resumes and adds new details to the testimonies that led to the conviction since the withdrawal of Weinstein in 2020.
She testified on Wednesday that Weinstein attacked her after inviting her to her apartment for what she expected to be a friendly and professional meeting. She said he had pushed her on a bed, ignoring her pleas: “No, no – it will not happen.”
She and two friends said that she had told them shortly after Weinstein had sexually assaulted her.
Haley testified that she had taken a pre-animated flight to Los Angeles on the penny of Weinstein the next day, and a few weeks later, agreed to meet him in a hotel in Manhattan. She said that she expected to speak in the hall, but that she was rather directed to her room, where she says that she had undesirable sex, but not forced with him.
Even after that, testified Haley, she remained in contact, sometimes sending emails signed “a lot of love” to Weinstein and her assistant. She said that she was still trying to capitalize professionally on Weinstein’s knowledge and that she “deleted a lot” to deal with it.
Bonjean underlined Thursday that when Haley had become public in 2017, she did not mention her subsequent sexual meeting with Weinstein, nor their continuous contact.
“You told the press that part of the story, right?” Bonjean asked.
“I said to the part that was relevant for what I was trying to share,” said Haley.
She denied Bonjean’s suggestion to speak in the hope of continuing Weinstein, although she then continued and obtained a settlement of around $ 475,000.
By focusing on the Cannes meeting, Bonjean pressed Haley on what to do because she had obtained a meeting with a better producer when she herself had a limited experience.
“So, as a person in my position, I should have refused it, is that what you say?” Haley retaliated.
“I’m not saying you should have done anything,” replied Bonjean.
She will move away from Weinstein’s defense team to take care of another trial after finishing her Haley interrogation, who must be returned to the stand on Friday.
Weinstein’s new trial includes charges related to Haley and another accuser of the initial trial, Jessica Mann, who alleges that Weinstein raped her in 2013. He is also tried, for the first time, for having pretended oral sex on the former Kaja Sokola model in 2006.
Mann and Sokola should also testify.
The Associated Press generally does not appoint people who allege having been sexually assaulted unless they allow their names to be used. Haley, Mann and Sokola did it.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
