Closing arguments kicked off Tuesday morning at Harvey Weinstein‘s retrial in New York Metropolis.
After asserting the safety had rested its case, Weinstein’s authorized skilled, Arthur Aidala, began delivering the closing argument to the jury.
Aidala reiterated the safety’s argument that the accusers had lied and that every one in every of their sexual encounters with Weinstein have been consensual. He moreover urged the jury to dismiss the case if that that they had any doubts regarding the prosecution’s claims or have been left in a “state of uncertainty.”
“This isn’t about innocence,” Aidala talked about. “That’s about: did they present their case previous an inexpensive doubt?”
He later added, “These are the oldsters they want you to think about — they’re all ladies with broken targets.”
Weinstein is charged with two counts of committing a “felony sexual act” inside the first diploma and one rely of third-degree rape, following accusations by three ladies: former TV manufacturing assistant Miriam Haley, former model Kaja Sokola and former aspiring actor Jessica Mann. Weinstein has pleaded not accountable to all counts.
Aidala characterised Weinstein’s relationships with Haley, Sokola and Mann as “transactional.”
“He’s the one getting abused proper right here,” Aidala talked about of Weinstein, noting that the earlier Hollywood producer paid for the women’s flights and completely different payments and invited them to events.
He later claimed that the accusers wanted to “decrease the street” and “take the shortcut,” believing Weinstein was their method in. Nonetheless as soon as they failed to hunt out success inside the leisure enterprise, Aidala talked about, “They’re mad. They’re mad to nowadays.”
A variety of the safety’s closing argument centered on Aidala’s detailed recounting of each accuser’s testimony from the weeks-long trial, all through which he emphasised their continued interactions with Weinstein after the alleged assaults and highlighted inconsistencies or gaps of their recollections all through cross-examination.
At one degree, Aidala referenced testimony from coronary heart specialist Ewa Sokola, the older sister of accuser Kaja. He argued that she in the long run grew to change into a safety witness after testifying that whereas Kaja appeared tense following the alleged assault in 2006, she on no account disclosed that one thing had occurred.
“She was supporting our idea of the case,” Aidala talked about of Ewa Sokola. “That the whole thing was super alongside along with her sister.”
In direction of the tip of the safety’s closing argument, Aidala claimed that the three ladies accused Weinstein of sexual assault in a bid for fame and financial compensation.
He concluded, “If this man wasn’t Harvey Weinstein, would we even be proper right here?”
District authorized skilled Nicole Blumberg then approached the jury to current the prosecution’s summation.
Blumberg described Weinstein’s vitality and have an effect on in Hollywood on the time of the alleged assaults, calling him a “titan inside the leisure enterprise.” She talked about he used that have an effect on to “bodily and emotionally overpower” individuals similar to the accusers, all of whom had aspirations of developing careers in leisure.
“He didn’t have an curiosity of their careers,” Blumberg talked about. “He had an curiosity of their our our bodies.”
She continued, “He didn’t care what they wanted. He cared what he wanted.”
Blumberg addressed Aidala’s declare that Weinstein was “the one getting abused proper right here,” responding, “The safety isn’t any sufferer on this case — and to suggest in some other case is offensive.”
The prosecution’s closing argument is scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.
The disgraced movie mogul was serving a 23-year sentence in New York after being convicted of sexual assault and rape in his 2020 felony trial. However, in April 2024, Weinstein’s conviction was overturned after the New York Court docket docket of Appeals dominated that the trial devoted an error by along with testimonies from three additional accusers when they should not have been permitted. These testimonies have been deemed prejudicial, as they didn’t current associated notion into the prices he confronted.
Weinstein was moreover convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022 and sentenced to an extra 16 years in jail.
