For the first time since the start of his trial, Harvey Weinstein arrived on Wednesday, April 22, in the Manhattan court without his walker. The chaotic approach since a back operation following a car accident, but combative. "I have good lawyers", launched the ousted movie producer, 67, accused of serial rape. The trial came to the heart of the matter after two weeks busy choosing the twelve jurors (five women, seven men).
In their opening statements, the New York prosecution and the defense defended two opposing arguments in an archable room. For Deputy Prosecutor Meghan Hast, "The evidence will clearly show that the man sitting here was not only a Hollywood titan but a rapist." Damon Cheronis, one of Mr. Weinstein's lawyers, denounced a "Narrative" imagined by the prosecution not corresponding to reality. According to him, it was "Consensual relationships" or even" love stories ". The entire defense strategy is to show that the complainants continued to have contact with Mr. Weinstein after their alleged assaults.
The prosecution, he detailed and very bluntly the complaints of six women: two are formally complainants (Miriam Haleyi and Jessica Mann), while the testimony of the other four, often prescribed, must support the accusation of rapist " serial ". Each time, a similar scenario: weak young women dreaming of a career in Hollywood meet Mr. Weinstein. They suffer his advances, resist more or less, fall under his influence, review him and often end up being raped. "Women of different origins, decades apart, and the same crime", accused Prosecutor Hast. The star producer, rewarded with Palmes d'Or at Cannes and Oscars in Hollywood, abused his position as evidenced by comments made in 2004 to a young woman whom he received, naked under her robe, in his bedroom. hotel in Manhattan, when she thought she was coming to sign contracts. " This is how the industry works. How do you think the actresses ride? " yelled Weinstein.
Traumatized
The first victim is Annabella Sciorra, young actress "Vulnerable and in adversity", according to the charge, which Weinstein deposited at her home in 1994 in Gramercy Park, after a dinner in an Irish restaurant in Manhattan. The young woman goes to bed when someone knocks on the door. It’s Weinstein, who pushes the frail 50 kg young woman into her apartment and rapes her. "Annabella remembers giving up the fight, hoping it will stop", exposed the prosecutor. Traumatized, Mme Sciorra did not call the police but started to drink. Mr. Weinstein is said to have sought to see her again in London a year later and to have reserved a room next to his in 1997 during the Cannes Film Festival.
