Jury prepares to consider Harvey Weinstein verdict
Jurors prepared to consider a verdict in Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault retrial Thursday after hearing from three women who allege the cinema power broker preyed on them.
A New York state appeals court had thrown out Weinstein's 2020 convictions after irregularities in the presentation of witnesses at his original trial, forcing two victims of his alleged abuse to testify a second time.
Judge Curtis Farber began giving instructions Thursday to jurors, one of whom had to be swapped out for an alternate after falling ill, before they retire to consider their verdict.
After six weeks of deliberations, the jury must decide whether Weinstein, accused by dozens of women of being a sexual predator, is guilty of sexual assaults in 2006 on former production assistant Miriam Haley and former model Kaja Sokola, and of rape in 2013 of aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
"He raped three women, they all said no," said prosecutor Nicole Blumberg Wednesday as she recounted the evidence of the three alleged victims of Weinstein who testified at this trial.
The Hollywood figure had "all the power" and "all the control" over the alleged victims which is why jurors should find him guilty, she said.
"The defendant thought the rules did not apply to him, now it is the time to let him know that the rules apply to him.
"There is no reasonable doubt; tell the defendant what he already knows -- that he is guilty of the three crimes."
Weinstein's defense attorney insisted the sexual encounters were consensual, pointing to a "casting couch" dynamic between the movie mogul and the women.
"We don't want to police the bedroom" -- except in cases of rape, Blumberg fired back.
Weinstein, the producer of box-office hits "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," has never acknowledged wrongdoing.
The cinema magnate, whose downfall in 2017 sparked the global #MeToo movement, has been on trial again since April 15 in a scruffy Manhattan courtroom.
He is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.
Two of the accusers in this case -- Haley and Mann -- testified at Weinstein's original trial.
Their accounts helped galvanize the #MeToo movement nearly a decade ago, but the case is being re-prosecuted at a new trial in New York.
His 2020 convictions on charges relating to Haley and Mann, and his 23-year prison term, were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals.
The tribunal ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was improper.
By Andréa Bambino
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
eNCA
2 days ago
- eNCA
Jury prepares to consider Harvey Weinstein verdict
Jurors prepared to consider a verdict in Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault retrial Thursday after hearing from three women who allege the cinema power broker preyed on them. A New York state appeals court had thrown out Weinstein's 2020 convictions after irregularities in the presentation of witnesses at his original trial, forcing two victims of his alleged abuse to testify a second time. Judge Curtis Farber began giving instructions Thursday to jurors, one of whom had to be swapped out for an alternate after falling ill, before they retire to consider their verdict. After six weeks of deliberations, the jury must decide whether Weinstein, accused by dozens of women of being a sexual predator, is guilty of sexual assaults in 2006 on former production assistant Miriam Haley and former model Kaja Sokola, and of rape in 2013 of aspiring actress Jessica Mann. "He raped three women, they all said no," said prosecutor Nicole Blumberg Wednesday as she recounted the evidence of the three alleged victims of Weinstein who testified at this trial. The Hollywood figure had "all the power" and "all the control" over the alleged victims which is why jurors should find him guilty, she said. "The defendant thought the rules did not apply to him, now it is the time to let him know that the rules apply to him. "There is no reasonable doubt; tell the defendant what he already knows -- that he is guilty of the three crimes." Weinstein's defense attorney insisted the sexual encounters were consensual, pointing to a "casting couch" dynamic between the movie mogul and the women. "We don't want to police the bedroom" -- except in cases of rape, Blumberg fired back. Weinstein, the producer of box-office hits "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," has never acknowledged wrongdoing. The cinema magnate, whose downfall in 2017 sparked the global #MeToo movement, has been on trial again since April 15 in a scruffy Manhattan courtroom. He is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago. Two of the accusers in this case -- Haley and Mann -- testified at Weinstein's original trial. Their accounts helped galvanize the #MeToo movement nearly a decade ago, but the case is being re-prosecuted at a new trial in New York. His 2020 convictions on charges relating to Haley and Mann, and his 23-year prison term, were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals. The tribunal ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was improper. By Andréa Bambino
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Daily Maverick
China issues bounty for hackers it says are linked to Taiwan
The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Guangzhou has put up an undisclosed bounty for more than 20 people it suspects carried out cyber attacks in China, the official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday, stepping up accusations against Taipei. The authorities said the hackers were linked to the Taiwan government and named one of them as Ning Enwei. There was no information on the size of the bounty in Chinese state media. Chinese authorities accused Taiwan of organising, planning and premeditating attacks on key sectors such as military, aerospace, government departments, energy and transportation, maritime affairs, science and technology research firms in China as well as in special administration regions Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua said. Xinhua, citing a cybersecurity report, said the Taiwan 'information, communication and digital army' has cooperated with U.S. anti-Chinese forces to conduct public opinion and cognitive warfare against China, secretly instigate revolution and attempt to disrupt public order in China. Taiwan's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the Chinese allegations were invented, saying Beijing was trying to shift the focus from Czech and European scrutiny over alleged Chinese hacking activities there. 'They fabricated a false narrative to shift the focus. It's a very typical behaviour by the Chinese Communist Party,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter. 'No amount of storytelling can change the fact that Beijing is not only a regional trouble maker, but also a common international threat to the online world.' China also said Taiwan had longstanding cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies for the United States' 'Asia-Pacific Strategy', calling it Taiwan's attempt to gain independence through relying on the United States. 'The US intelligence department has long provided personnel training and technical equipment support for Taiwan's 'information, communication and digital army', and many police stations have sent 'hunting' teams to Taiwan, to launch a cyber attacks on China,' according to a social media post by an account linked to Chinese state television. Last week authorities in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern Guangdong province, attributed a cyberattack on an unnamed technology company to the Taiwan government, saying Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party supported the 'overseas hacker organisation' responsible. The accusation prompted Taiwan to blame China for peddling false information, saying it was China who was carrying out hacking against the island. China views Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan's democratically elected government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Chinese courts and legal bodies have no jurisdiction in separately governed Taiwan, whose government has repeatedly complained about Beijing's 'long armed jurisdiction' efforts.
TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- TimesLIVE
Vast police search for Madeleine McCann evidence launched in Algarve
Portuguese and German police on Tuesday launched joint searches of a 'vast' area in Portugal's southern Algarve region for new evidence related to the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old British child Madeleine McCann. The scale of the searches could be the most extensive since the initial investigation was closed in 2008, a year after Madeleine went missing while on holiday with her family in the Algarve town of Praia da Luz. Her disappearance sparked a frenzied search and gained the attention of the world's media. She has never been found. Fresh though relatively focused searches were ordered by Portuguese, British and German police of scrubland, wells and reservoirs in 2014, 2020 and 2023. None of the searches were confirmed to have yielded significant evidence. Portugal's investigative judicial police (PJ) said on Monday they would execute search warrants at the behest of the public prosecutor's office in Germany's Braunschweig, which in 2022 formally identified German national Christian Brueckner as an official suspect in the case. The search operation is expected to end on Thursday, said a spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office in the northern German city of Braunschweig. A source involved in the search said the targeted area was 'vast', with police using ground-penetrating radar across several hectares. Portuguese officers were following instructions from German police under a European investigation order. Reuters footage showed uniformed PJ officers in a cordon on a dirt road in Atalaia, a neighbourhood of Lagos municipality, waving through unmarked vans and cars with German licence plates from the city of Wiesbaden, where the federal criminal police office (BKA) has its headquarters. The BKA is assisting Portuguese law enforcement with 'criminal procedural measures', Braunschweig prosecutors told Reuters, declining to provide further details. The occupants of one of the German vehicles wore bucket hats, clothing with camouflage patterns and bandannas covering their faces. A van belonging to Portugal's maritime police also arrived. The force has jurisdiction over coastal areas and took part in previous searches of beaches, wells and reservoirs using specialist divers. The road the police cordoned off is located close to a golf course and less than 1km from the beach. The search area was close to a property Brueckner lived in, a neighbour told Reuters in 2020, though when was unclear. German police said in June 2020 Madeleine was presumed dead and Brueckner, in his 40s, was probably responsible. He has denied responsibility. Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug dealer, is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve. His sentence runs until September, meaning he is set for release unless prosecutors find enough evidence to charge him over Madeleine's disappearance. In January, Sky News quoted the German prosecutor investigating Madeleine's disappearance as saying there was no prospect of charges being brought against Brueckner.
