New York (AFP)
Can memories be so misleading as to turn consenting into assault? This was suggested by Friday the defense of Harvey Weinstein, by testifying a psychologist specializing in memory lapses.
Since the trial began on January 22, jurors have heard six women recount the alleged sexual assaults by the mighty Hollywood producer, all of them at least six years old, sometimes almost 30 years old.
Harvey Weinstein, 67, denies the charges against him and says these relationships were all agreed.
On Friday, a renowned psychologist, Elizabeth Loftus, interviewed by a defense lawyer, exposed the multiple ways in which memories can be distorted and the memory "contaminated" by false information or suggestions.
According to this expert, professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has already testified in some 300 trials, not only does the accuracy of memories deteriorate over the years, but memory also becomes "more vulnerable to information after the 'event', likely to transform reality.
She took the example of witnesses who "are pressed to provide more details" on an event they experienced.
To meet this demand, "they can put forward something that is only a hypothesis, and then have the impression that it is a memory," said Loftus.
She pointed out that events that, at the time, had "not been traumatic or overwhelming" could become so in our memories, if others had "labeled" them as such.
She also explained that experiences have shown that false childhood memories can be "planted" in the minds of some people.
Among the information likely to "contaminate memories", she cited media coverage of an event. Charges of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein have been making the headlines in the US media since October 2017.
The memory can also be distorted from the start, if the person was at the event under the influence of alcohol or certain drugs, she added, citing in particular valium.
One of Mr. Weinstein's accusers, actress Annabella Sciorra, testified that she took valium before she was allegedly raped by Mr. Weinstein in the early 1990s.
During cross-examination of the prosecution, Ms. Loftus, however, greatly qualified her remarks.
She recognized that the accuracy of memories was more resistant to time when the event was particularly significant or traumatic.
She also acknowledged that, in more than 40 years of experience, her expertise, which can make jurors doubt the credibility of the testimony of a victim, had been almost exclusively sought by the defense.
Defense will resume on Monday.
© 2020 AFP