Harvey Weinstein doesn’t plan to testify at his New York sex crimes retrial in a move that means jurors soon will get the case against the former movie studio boss who propelled the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct.
He did not testify at previous trials in New York and California and was convicted in both.
Weinstein has been watching the New York retrial intently from the defense table, sometimes shaking his head at accusers’ testimony and often leaning over to one or another of his attorneys to convey his thoughts.
According to Maia, Mann never mentioned in those days that Weinstein had hurt her in any way.
Both Maia and another witness, Thomas Richards, met up with Mann and Weinstein shortly after Mann has said she was raped.
The case against the former head of the film studio who spearheaded the MeToo movement against sexual misconduct will soon be presented to jurors as Harvey Weinstein has decided not to testify at his retrial for sex crimes in New York.
Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, announced on Sunday evening that the trial will proceed to closing arguments on Tuesday without his testimony.
It’s unclear if jury deliberations would start on Wednesday or Tuesday afternoon.
Weinstein, who has never publicly responded to inquiries regarding any of the charges made by women, made the decision with great care. He was found guilty in both the California and New York trials where he did not testify. According to Aidala, Weinstein was considering whether or not to testify this time, and he refutes the accusations.
When the state’s highest court reversed his 2020 conviction, Weinstein won a new trial in his New York rape and sexual assault case while his California appeal is still pending.
In New York, he faces charges of forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley and Kaja Sokola, separately, in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann in 2013. Haley worked as a production assistant and producer, Mann was a hairstylist and actor, and Sokola was a model who wanted to be an actor.
In their days-long testimony at the retrial, the three women described the emotional and graphic abuse they allegedly received at the hands of a powerbroker who claimed to be able to help them realize their dreams of becoming show stars but instead manipulated them into private settings and preyed on them.
Everything that transpired between him and his accusers was consensual, according to his lawyers.
In criminal cases in the United States, defendants are not required to testify, and many choose not to for a variety of reasons. The potential for questioning by prosecutors is one of them.
From the defense table, Weinstein has been closely following the New York retrial, occasionally shaking his head at the accusers’ testimony and frequently bending over to one of his lawyers to express his opinions.
Outside of court on Thursday, Aidala, one of the attorneys, stated that Weinstein believed the accusers’ stories had been extensively questioned, but he was also considering whether the jurors would feel compelled to hear from him.
A transcript read by court staff was one of the ways the jury heard testimony from a few other defense witnesses.
Due to her unavailability, jurors were given a reading of Talita Maia’s prior testimony on Friday, which she had previously provided during the 2020 trial. Another stenographer sat in the witness box and gave Maia’s responses, occasionally emphasizing them, while another stenographer spoke the 2020 attorneys’ questions.
In 2013, Maia and Mann shared a room and were friends, but they later stopped getting along. Maia claims that Mann made no mention of Weinstein’s any kind of harm to her during that time. Shortly after Mann claimed she had been raped, Maia and another witness, Thomas Richards, met with Mann and Weinstein.
Neither witness reported seeing anything unusual. Richards, who claimed he did not want to be perceived as a Weinstein supporter despite being subpoenaed to appear, recalled that day’s meal he shared with Mann and Weinstein and that they had “friendly conversation.”.
Mann testified earlier this month that she was afraid of Weinstein’s reaction and did not believe that he would believe her when she told him that he had sexually assaulted her.
Helga Samuelsen, who is also friendly with the former producer, was brought in for Weinstein’s defense. Sokola told jurors that nothing of the sort occurred, despite Samuelsen’s testimony on Thursday that Weinstein had once paid her a visit and spent roughly thirty minutes in a bedroom with her in a New York apartment the two of them briefly shared in 2005.
