World - The jury in former Hollywood
producer Harvey Weinstein's rape trial began deliberations on
Tuesday,
If found guilty Weinstein could go to prison for life.
The case has become a milestone for the #MeToo movement.
The New York jury of seven men and five women began their
discussions after the judge hearing the case warned Weinstein's
lead defense lawyer, Donna Rotunno, against talking to the press
until jurors have reached a verdict.
The warning came two days after the attorney wrote an
opinion piece about the case in Newsweek magazine.
“I would caution you about the tentacles of your public
relations juggernaut," Justice James Burke told Rotunno.
Rotunno told Burke that the opinion piece, published on
Saturday and titled "Jurors in my client Harvey Weinstein's case
must look past the headlines," was not intended to address the
jury directly.
"This is an op-ed about the jury system as a whole, about
the criminal justice system as a whole," she said.
Prosecutors asked Burke to revoke Weinstein's bail and jail
him, saying he must have approved the Newsweek opinion piece.
The judge did not act on the request.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting
former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping
Jessica Mann, a onetime aspiring actress, in 2013.
Weinstein faces life in prison if convicted on the most
serious charge, predatory sexual assault.
A unanimous verdict is needed for a conviction.
Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of
sexual misconduct. Weinstein, who was behind films including
"The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love," has denied the
allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
The allegations fueled the #MeToo movement, in which women
have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and
politics of sexual misconduct.
Last week, jurors heard closing arguments from lawyers on
both sides. Defense attorney Rotunno argued that the encounters
had been consensual, pointing to friendly communications from
the women to Weinstein after they were allegedly assaulted.
She assailed the credibility of the accusers and
urged the jury to put aside their emotions and use common sense
in evaluating the evidence.
"Historically, you are the last line of defense in this
country from the overzealous media, from the overzealous
prosecution," Rotunno said.
Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi urged jurors to
convict Weinstein, saying the once-powerful producer used his
position in the film industry to prey on women and that those
who testified against him had no reason to lie.
Illuzzi said Weinstein had counted on his victims never
coming forward.
"The defendant not only ran roughshod over the dignity and
the very lives of these witnesses, but he also underestimated
them," she told the jury.
Haleyi testified during the trial that Weinstein forced oral
sex on her in his home in 2006. Haleyi said Weinstein "lunged"
at her, backed her into a bedroom and forcibly performed oral
sex on her, yanking out her tampon.
Mann testified that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel
room early in what she called an "extremely degrading"
relationship with him.
Jurors heard from four other women, including actress
Annabella Sciorra, who testified that Weinstein came into her
apartment one winter night in 1993 or 1994 and raped her. The
accusation is too old to be charged as a separate crime, but it
could act as an aggravating factor to support the predatory
sexual assault charge.
Prosecutors called the remaining three women to bolster
their evidence of Weinstein's intent, but did not charge him
with any crimes related to them. Weinstein is separately charged
with assaulting one of them, Lauren Young, by prosecutors in Los
Angeles.