Harvey Weinstein guilty: how the Hollywood giant coped with his calculations

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While the jurors were sworn in for the trial of Harvey Weinstein in New York, the judge told them unequivocally that this case was not intended to be a referendum on the #MeToo movement as a whole. But the trial, which ended with Weinstein’s conviction for rape and sexual assault, sometimes turned out to be one.

You can find some of the details in this upsetting article

It was a defining moment. More than two years after allegations began to emerge about the Hollywood producer, some of his victims were finally fortunate enough to be heard in court.

Twelve jurors were assigned to rule on sexual charges, which Weinstein denied, in a trial that saw complex questions about consent and the dynamics of power on the stand. Jurors heard heartbreaking testimony from six women who, sometimes in tears, recounted their alleged assaults by the producer. A woman, who was later convicted of rape, at one point had to leave the court after apparently having suffered a panic attack on the stand.

Weinstein’s mighty defense team tried to turn the tide and portray his accusers as the manipulators of the situation: women who used Weinstein for his prowess in the industry and later regretted and distorted their sexual encounters as non-consensual. During weeks of testimony, jurors heard it all, from distorted statements about Weinstein’s genitals to nude photographs of the film magnate himself.

Journalists lined up every day, sometimes before sunrise, to claim a place on the press benches. Cameras were not allowed inside the Manhattan Supreme Court, but the entrance was still lined with paparazzi rushing to get photos and daily audio clips of Weinstein, who had barely been seen in public since two years.

Weinstein was a giant of the film industry in every way. The productions in his name have become synonymous with success in Hollywood, with hundreds of Oscar nominations and 81 victories throughout his career. On stage, while accepting prizes, his large frame often hid over the stars of his films.

The image of Weinstein at his trial was very different: once supposedly 300 lb (136 kg), he seemed fragile and dragged to court most of the time, his back leaning on a metal walking frame.

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The term #MeToo preceded Weinstein, but was propelled around the world as allegations rose against him in October 2017. Millions of people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities used the hashtag to detail their experiences of harassment and harassment. ‘abuse. Other celebrities were involved, but it was the scale of the claims against Weinstein, then arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood, that turned out to be the most shocking.

Over 100 women have made allegations about her – from aggressive outbursts to serious sexual assault. Stars at the top of the industry, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, spoke of unwanted advances and overwhelming interactions. Other women described, often in graphic detail, alleged rape by the producer. Weinstein has always denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Despite dozens of allegations against him, they are the first to be tried.

At that time, Weinstein almost disappeared from the public. His marriage broke down and he reportedly sought treatment for sexual addiction. His trading partner brother described his behavior as “sick and depraved” and their production company filed for bankruptcy.

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During a rare interview, which was allegedly given without the knowledge of his lawyer in December, Weinstein complained of feeling like a “forgotten man” in Hollywood. Speaking just one day after a three-hour operation to relieve compression on his spine, he told the New York Post that he deserves a pat on the back for everything he has done for women in the movie. He posed for photos at a medical center wearing jeans and a T-shirt, which he lifted to reveal a bandage on his back from which a tube drained blood into a container attached to a walking aid made of metal.

The walking frame played a prominent role during the trial when an argument broke out when the prosecutors called it “incidental”. Weinstein’s lawyers even wanted his surgeon to testify to prove that he was not faking his injury to gain sympathy.

On the first day, a group of renowned accusers gathered in court to try to confront him. “You caused this by hurting so many,” said actress Rose McGowan, speaking to her alleged rapist in the media. “You only have to blame yourself.”

Weinstein’s legal team made repeated calls for the trial to be moved from Manhattan, citing the “carnival atmosphere” that invaded it. At one point, the defense complained after a flash mob of protesters chanting words including “The rapist is you” could be heard from inside the courtroom. To another, one of the most famous models in the world, Gigi Hadid, appeared as a potential juror.

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About 2,000 people were said to have been summoned during the jury selection process, and prosecutors accused Weinstein’s team of “systematically eliminating” young white women, looking like his victims, from sitting on the jury. After almost two weeks, the group of 12 was finalized with seven men and five women.

Weinstein denied five counts of crime related to allegations of sexual assault and rape. They were linked to incidents involving Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant who claimed to have forced oral sex on her in her Manhattan apartment in 2006, and Jessica Mann, a budding actress who said she raped her in a hotel room in New York in 2013.

Another alleged victim, Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra, said he broke into her New York apartment and raped her sometime in the winter of 1993/4. The time since the alleged incident meant that it did not fall under the New York limitation period and could not be charged separately, but the judge decided that his testimony could be used to support the most serious charges of the ‘indictment: for predatory sexual assault.

Three other women were also allowed by the judge to appear as “witnesses to prior wrongdoing” to help establish a pattern of behavior and a common ground. All were aspiring actresses in their twenties, hoping to break into the industry, when they described being attacked by him.

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This tactic was used in particular to help secure a conviction against American comedian Bill Cosby, who was imprisoned in 2018. Kristen Gibbons Feden was a prosecutor in his two trials and told the BBC that the witnesses’ ” previous wrongdoing “to take a stand, and to be open to cross-examination without hope of direct justice for themselves, can play a” critical “role in undermining the arguments of the defense and in establishing the reason for the repeat offenders.

“These women who testified, all of the women who testified in Cosby’s trial, were ready to put their lives, their public sanctity and their character at stake in an attempt to help the prosecution dismiss a serial rapist – I think that says a lot about the movement, “she said.

Physical evidence was never likely to play a role in the trial, given the time that has passed since the alleged incidents. The case would therefore go up and down on the credibility of the charges against Weinstein: a case he said, she said – or, in this trial, they said. “Obviously, whenever you have a criminal trial, the purpose of a defense lawyer is to question the credibility of witnesses – but especially when the only evidence is eyewitness testimony, which is the case in this case “, Julie Rendelman, former prosecutor. become a criminal defense lawyer, told the BBC.

Sciorra was the first accuser to take a stand against Weinstein. She alleged that he broke into her 17th floor apartment in Gramercy Park and raped her shortly after offering to take her home after a dinner they had attended with others, including Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman. “I felt very restrained because he was very tall,” she said in court, who had heard that it weighed almost three times its weight around 110-115 lbs (50 kg) at the time. .

“Then he grabbed me. He led me into the bedroom and pushed me onto the bed. I hit him, I hit him, I tried to get him away from me. He took my hands and put my hands on my head, “she said, waving.

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In turn, the defense called witnesses, including the manager of the apartment building in Sciorra, to try to contradict his claims. During the trial, some witnesses for the defense appeared only once on subpoena, apparently reluctant to appear and contradict the story of the accusers, who in some cases were former friends.

Defense questioned Sciorra on her acting skills and success: reading a 1997 clip from a well-known American talk show where she admitted she made up colorful lies about her life in press interviews . They asked why she hadn’t raised the alarm about what had happened. “He was someone I knew,” she said in court. “I felt at the time that the rape was something that had happened in an alley in a dark place by someone you did not know.”

They also called Professor Elizabeth Loftus, a false memory, who testified to his research on how memories can be distorted and contaminated over time.

With the main accusers, the defense attempted to overturn the accounts of manipulation presented by the prosecution. They said that the continuous and often friendly communication between Haleyi and Mann with Weinstein after their attacks proved that the relationships were consensual. Haleyi told the court in tears how he rushed and physically overpowered her in 2006, removing a tampon and forcing oral sex on her when she was menstruating.

“I checked and decided to bear it,” she said in court. “It was the safest thing I could do.”

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Her lawyers confronted her with messages she later sent to the producer, including those signing “lots of love” and “peace and love.” “I have asked many people for jobs, including Harvey Weinstein,” she said of the contacts regarding career opportunities. She also said that she felt “trapped” by her situation, so she decided to “almost pretend [the assault] does not occur “.

Jessica Mann told the court that she entered into a “degrading relationship” with Weinstein, who included subsequent consensual acts, after her rape.

Psychologist Dr. Barbara Ziv was called by the prosecution to try to postpone part of the defense scrutiny of the behavior of its victims. Dr. Ziv, who also testified at Cosby’s second trial, spoke of his 20 years of experience with victims of assault and sought to dispel the so-called “rape myths”.

“The vast majority of victims of sexual assault do not come quickly,” she said in court. “It can take anywhere from a few days to months or years to report an assault – forever.” She also said that it was “extremely common” for victims to stay in touch with their attacker, sometimes for fear of reprisals, and noted that an overwhelming majority of assaults were committed by someone the victim knew.

“The trial was set up to raise complex questions about consent and how it looks,” Deborah Tuerkheimer, professor at Northwestern University School of Law, told Variety. “Jessica Mann in particular has truly been a complex witness.”

Mann’s three-day testimony, the identity of which had not been made public before the trial, provided some of his most significant moments. Journalists inside the court said that at one point, after being pressed to read an email referring to abuse earlier in his life, Mann collapsed and started sobbing from uncontrollable way. The New York Times reported that after being excused from the court, she could be heard screaming in another room.

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Asked about their ongoing communication, the 34-year-old told the lawyers: “I know the history of my relationship with him … I know it was complicated and difficult, but that does not change the fact that ‘he raped me “.

The item was seized by assistant district attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon when she closed the case on Valentine’s Day. “Jessica Mann could have been completely in love with Harvey Weinstein,” she said. “She could have had her name tattooed on his arm. She could have written him love notes every day. She could have been married to him. If all of that were true, it still wouldn’t make a difference, he wouldn’t would not be allowed to rape her. “

This argument reflected an earlier defense argument which had told the jury that they could hate Weinstein, but still did not believe that his guilt had been proven.

“You don’t need to love Mr. Weinstein. This is not a popularity contest,” said lawyer Donna Rotunno for almost five hours of her closing remarks. “In this country, it is the unpopular people who most need juries,” said Rotunno. “The unpopular person needs you the most.”

“You are the last line of defense in this country against overzealous media, against overzealous prosecutions,” she told them.

Rotunno accused prosecutors of writing a reality that “strips adult women of common sense, autonomy and responsibility”. Illuzzi-Orbon argued that Weinstein was a “predator” who attacked women whom he considered “complete disposables”.

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From her glamorous designer outfits, to her imposing heels and the “not guilty” gold pendant she wore around her neck in court, Rotunno has become the public face of the defense team.

The lawyer has built her reputation by defending men in high-profile sexual misconduct cases. “I have the opportunity to escape with a lot more in a courtroom under cross-examination of a woman than a male lawyer …”, she said in an interview in 2018. “If he attacks this woman with the same venom as me, he looks like a bully. If I do, nobody even blows an eyelash. And it has been very effective.”

During the trial, Rotunno came under fire for comments made inside and outside the courtroom. An interview she gave to the New York Times podcast The Daily aroused particular contempt. When asked if she had ever been sexually assaulted, Rotunno replied, “I didn’t do it”, before stopping and adding: “Because I would never put myself in this position” .

She also suggested that men should get written consent before engaging in sex and said that societal pressure to “believe all women” meant that there was now “no” risk for accusers to come forward and make claims. Prosecutors complained that the interview violated an order not to discuss the case publicly during the trial. They also accused her of “falsifying the borderline jury” for having written an opinion article imploring them to “look beyond the headlines” before being sent to deliberate.

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The defense arguments were criticized by survivors and activist groups, who accused them of blaming the victims and perpetuating misconceptions about rape.

Ultimately, the jury, having previously indicated that they were divided over the charges of aggravated assault taking into account Sciorra, found the two counts not guilty. They took five days to reach their decision, finding Weinstein guilty of Jessica Mann’s third degree rape and a criminal sexual act in his assault on Mimi Haleyi.

More than two years after dozens of women spoke out against him, transforming public opinion, Weinstein was finally found guilty by a criminal court.

The guilty verdicts mean that at 67, he could potentially spend the rest of his life in prison. He was remanded in custody pending conviction and faces other charges in Los Angeles.

Laura Palumbo, director of communications for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, told the BBC that while the Weinstein trial was a “significant moment” at the national level, it was important to reflect that it did not reflect the reality of most rape cases in American courts. system.

The national network Rape, Abuse Incest (RAINN), based in the United States, estimates that 995 out of 1000 perpetrators of sexual assault, or approximately 99.5%, will walk freely due to the low reporting and conviction rates.

“I hope this will help people understand that, even if there has been a change, there is still much to be done to create a society that responds more effectively to victims of sexual assault,” said Palumbo a telephone interview before the verdict is pronounced. ad.

“I hope that in the future, dozens of survivors will not have to come forward for their reports to be taken seriously.”