Prosecutors in Harvey Weinstein’s retrial told a Manhattan jury on Wednesday that the disgraced Hollywood mogul used his power and influence to sexually assault women and make them “feel small,” ignoring their pleas to stop.
Weinstein, 73, is facing retrial on charges of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. A new count has also been added, alleging he assaulted a 19-year-old aspiring model, Kaja Sokola, in a Manhattan hotel that same year.
Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey, in her opening statement, detailed the alleged assaults, saying all three women resisted Weinstein’s advances. “He made all these women feel small,” Lucey said. “When he wanted something, he took it.”
Describing the 2006 assault, Lucey told jurors that Weinstein, “three times her size,” cornered Haleyi in an apartment, kissed and groped her, and forced oral sex on her despite her repeated rejections.
Weinstein, dressed in a dark suit and appearing in a wheelchair, occasionally glanced at the jury during proceedings. Lucey called him “one of the most powerful men in show business,” asserting he used that status to exploit vulnerable women in the industry.
The trial is expected to run for five to six weeks and includes testimony from accusers who were central to the 2020 conviction that was later overturned. That ruling by New York’s highest court found that the inclusion of additional uncharged testimony at the original trial had prejudiced the jury.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, challenged the prosecution’s narrative, saying the jury would hear no proof of force or lack of consent. He claimed Mann introduced Weinstein to her mother after the alleged rape and that Haleyi continued to have a “consensual” relationship with him. “Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty,” Aidala repeated to the jury.
More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct since his downfall in 2017, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd. He has denied all allegations and maintains the encounters were consensual.
Weinstein is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in California following a separate conviction for raping a European actress. The retrial in New York comes more than seven years after his fall from power triggered the global #MeToo movement.
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