Harvey Weinstein appeared before the court in Manhattan on Monday April 21.
Michael Nagle / AP
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tilting legend
Michael Nagle / AP
Opening arguments should start Wednesday in the New York trial of the Director of Cinema in disgrace Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein is accused of having attacked three women: a former production assistant with an actress, who both testified against Weinstein in her trial in 2020, and an additional woman whose identity has not yet been made public.
He is accused of two leaders of the first degree criminal sex and a third -degree rape.
Weinstein’s New York’s conviction was canceled by a court of appeal last year, which concluded that the jury should not have heard what is known under New York law as “molinte evidence” – evidence of a certain number of witnesses alleging a sexual fault which was not included in the accusation. The Manhattan district prosecutor Alvin Bragg then announced that he would try Weinstein again with an additional testimony of a new witness.
This trial is therefore a test of the ability of prosecutors to persuade a jury of Weinstein’s guilt with three women under oath accusing him directly, instead of the six who testified during the first trial.
Prosecutors should argue that Weinstein has exploited his influence in the entertainment sector to force women in sexual situations against their will. They will probably strengthen the individual history of each woman with testimonies of experts on the psychological effects of sexual assault.
The defense team should seize any inconsistency in the three female accounts. In the trial in 2020, for example, the jurors received emails from an accuser, Jessica Mann, who could be taken to suggest that she had a friendly relationship with Weinstein.
Weinstein was sentenced separately for rape and other sexual crimes in California in 2022, although he also called on this conviction. If he chooses to take a stand in Manhattan in the coming weeks, prosecutors could ask him for his criminal record, but not on the facts of this case.
The #MeToo movement has been partly catalyzed by the many women who presented themselves to accuse Weinstein of misconduct, from 2017. Lindsay Goldbrum, lawyer for the witness to be appointed, said last week that the pure volume of public accusations against the former producer grants additional meaning.
“I think it is important that we saw justice in this case for all the women who came up against Harvey, not only those who had the opportunity to testify against him,” said Goldbrum.
A 12 Manhattanite jury with six deputies was seated Tuesday after days of questioning the judge, prosecutors and the defense team of Weinstein. Judge Curtis Farber said on several occasions that he wanted a jury that could be fair and impartial, given the enormous advertisement that the case had attracted. Dozens of potential jurors were rejected after raising their hands to indicate that they could not make a fair and objective judgment, because of what they already knew about the case.
Weinstein suffers from bone marrow cancer and suffered emergency heart surgery last year. Last week, a judge granted his request to stay at Bellevue hospital for the rest of the trial, rather than on Rikers Island, where he was detained while waiting for the trial.
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