An lawyer for Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles rape and sexual assault demo informed jurors Thursday that prosecutors’ case depends solely on asking them to have faith in girls whose testimony showed they had been untrustworthy.
“‘Take my word for it’ – five text that sum up the entirety of the prosecution’s scenario,” Jackson instructed jurors in his closing argument.
The 70-calendar year-outdated former movie magnate is billed with raping and sexually assaulting two females and committing sexual battery towards two many others.
Jackson argued that two of the women were being totally lying about their encounters, when the other two took aspect in “transactional sex” for the sake of occupation improvement that was “100% consensual.” But following the #MeToo explosion all-around Weinstein with stories in the New York Situations and the New Yorker – which Jackson termed a “dogpile” on his consumer – the women became regretful.
“Regret is not rape,” Jackson instructed jurors numerous occasions.
Weinstein is by now serving a 23-calendar year sentence for a conviction in New York for rape and sexual assault in opposition to two girls.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles accomplished their closing argument earlier Thursday, after providing most of it Wednesday, and urged jurors to finish Weinstein’s takedown by convicting him in California.
“It is time for the defendant’s reign of terror to finish,” Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez stated. “It is time for the kingmaker to be introduced to justice.”
In his closings, Weinstein’s lawyer urged jurors to glance earlier the emotion of the testimony the four females gave, and concentration on the factual evidence.
“‘Believe us mainly because we’re mad, imagine us due to the fact we cried,”’ Jackson explained jurors have been being questioned to do. “Well, fury does not make simple fact. And tears do not make truth of the matter.”
He was primarily adamant about the tearful and remarkable testimony of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and the spouse of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who reported Weinstein raped her in a Beverly Hills lodge home in 2005.
“It was a theatrical, extremely dramatized effectiveness,” he claimed. “What you saw was an act.”
Siebel Newsom was a single of the women of all ages who engaged in “transactional sexual intercourse,” Jackson argued. “She appreciates it, and she hates it.”
He said the testimony was also dishonest, as when Siebel Newsom testified that she bumped into Weinstein often just after the assault, together with an come upon at the 2007 movie pageant, which left her “triggered.” Jackson pointed to an e-mail exactly where Siebel Newsom experienced really sought out the meetup with Weinstein.
Jackson explained to the jurors Weinstein was never ever even in the lodge place with the other female he is charged with raping, an Italian product who in courtroom went by Jane Doe 1. She testified that he attacked her following exhibiting up uninvited to her resort place during a Los Angeles film festival in 2013.
“Jane Doe 1 is lying. Time period,” Jackson reported, pointing to the absence of proof putting Weinstein at the scene. “Not a one witness can corroborate that Harvey Weinstein at any time walked through that doorway.”
He confirmed pics of Jane Doe 1 smiling as she interacted with director Quentin Tarantino on the next evening of the competition, with Weinstein sitting down just a handful of ft away.
“This is not consistent with her acquiring suffered the violence she suffered just hrs ahead of,” the law firm reported.
Earlier on the night individuals pictures had been taken, in accordance to the allegations, Weinstein trapped product Lauren Youthful in a hotel bathroom, groped her and masturbated in entrance of her in the course of what was meant to be a meeting about a script she’d prepared.
Jackson stated the meeting was serious but she experienced fabricated most of the relaxation, concentrating on what he said were the extremely hard information of her being locked in the lavatory by a girl on the outside the house, and the home acquiring a sliding doorway where by photos proved it did not.
“None of it can make sense, simply because she’s making it up,” Jackson explained.
The Linked Press does not frequently title persons who say they have been sexually abused except if they come ahead publicly or agree to be determined by way of their legal professionals, as people named in this story have done. All of the ladies Weinstein is billed with assaulting are heading by Jane Doe in court docket.
The prosecution is established to give its final rebuttal Friday early morning, immediately after which jurors will start deliberations.