The prosecution on Friday called on jurors to convict "predator" Harvey Weinstein and to believe women who have "no reason to lie" by accusing the producer of sexual assault on the last day of this trial.
The 80-Oscar film producer saw himself "as a master of the universe, and the women who testified (against him) were just ants he could trample on without consequences," said prosecutor Joan. Illuzzi-Orbon in its final indictment, after three weeks of hearings at the Manhattan court. The 67-year-old producer, who risks life in the event of a conviction, thought he had an "infallible insurance policy" because the six women who testified at the trial "were lining up to join his world" and therefore had an interest in being silent , she added.
"They sacrificed their dignity, their privacy, their tranquility"
According to the prosecutor, they had "no reason to lie". "Why submit to all this stress (by coming to testify)"?, She launched to the jurors during her three-hour argument, shorter than that of the defense lawyer Donna Rotunno who Thursday had requested the acquittal. "Did they seem happy to be in court?" (…) They sacrificed their dignity, their privacy, their peace of mind in the hope of making their voices heard, ”she insisted.
The prosecutor - who led the prosecution against Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the Sofitel case in 2011, finally abandoned - also tried to dispel the doubts raised by the defense Thursday. Donna Rotunno had insinuated that the accusers had put themselves in a situation of being attacked, by continuing to associate with the producer whereas he had already allegedly abused them. "Did going to Harvey Weinstein deserve what happened to her?" Was it his decision? "Asked the prosecutor, with reference to the accusations of Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant who accuses Mr. Weinstein of having attacked her at the producer's home in 2006." Are we taking the plane, should he expect it to be diverted? (…) But we perceive the victims of sexual crimes differently (from the victims) than other crimes, ”she insisted.
The overwhelming testimony of Annabella Sciorra
During her pleading intermingling with twenty depositions, sometimes difficult to follow, she returned at length to the story of actress Annabella Sciorra, who claims to have been raped by Mr. Weinstein in the winter of 1993-94, at her home in Manhattan. Of the six women who testified against the Miramax co-founder, the actress' testimony at the start of the trial was perhaps the most overwhelming for Harvey Weinstein. Annabella Sciorra did everything to keep him away after the alleged rape, while other women remained on good terms with him.
According to the prosecutor, this resulted in him being put on a "red list" of the producer, and targeted by people he had recruited to try to suppress, in 2017, the investigations of journalists of the New York Times or the New Yorker on his alleged sexual abuse. It was the publication of these investigations that sparked the #MeToo movement in October 2017, precipitating the denunciation of the sexual abuse of many men of power. Harvey Weinstein is the first to be tried in criminal proceedings.
Deliberations from Tuesday
The prosecutor also resumed the sometimes confused testimony of Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress who admitted to having a relationship with Harvey Weinstein several years after he allegedly raped her in 2013. The defense presented his story as evidence that she was actually consenting, citing many loving emails she sent to Harvey Weinstein. For the prosecutor, Jessica Mann has proven all along that she was of the highest "morality". “The question is not whether she made the wrong decisions. The question is whether she is lying to you. If she tells the truth, she was raped. "
If Harvey Weinstein has been charged with harassment or sexual assault by more than 80 women, over 30 years, he is only tried directly in New York for two alleged assaults: the alleged rape of Jessica Mann and a forced cunnilingus that allegedly suffered Mimi Haleyi. The testimony of the other four women is believed to establish that he was a repeat assailant, which has earned him the charge of "predatory sexual assault". The closing arguments, the jurors - seven men and five women - will deliberate from Tuesday. Several lawyers indicated that they expected complicated deliberations, excluding neither an acquittal nor a cancellation of the trial, due to the lack of unanimity among the jurors.
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