Harvey Weinstein retrial: Accuser's roommate testifies; Oscar-winning producer's lawyers argue that woman consented to boost career
Hovering in the doorway of her roommate's bedroom one evening in July 2006, TV production assistant Miriam Haley said Harvey Weinstein - her boss - had forcibly performed oral sex on her, her then-roommate testified Thursday at the ex-movie mogul's retrial.
"I said, 'Miriam, that sounds like rape. I think you should call a lawyer,'" but a shaken Haley seemed disinclined to do so, recalled the ex-roommate, Elizabeth Entin.
If secondhand, it was the first testimony jurors have gotten so far about any of the alleged sexual assaults at the heart of the retrial, which opened Wednesday. Haley and two other accusers are expected to testify later in the weekslong proceeding.
Weinstein, 73, maintains that he has never sexually assaulted or raped anyone. His lawyers argue that his accusers consented to sexual encounters with the Oscar-winning producer in hopes of getting ahead in the entertainment business.
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Weinstein was transformed in 2017 from a Hollywood tycoon into the
#MeToo movement
's archvillain, after a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him became public.
He was convicted in 2020 of raping Jessica Mann, who was once an aspiring actor, and sexually assaulting Haley, who worked on the Weinstein-produced "Project Runway." But New York's highest court overturned his conviction last year, finding that the trial judge had allowed prejudicial testimony.
The reversal led to the retrial, which includes an additional allegation of forcible oral sex on a different woman, former model Kaja Sokola. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Entin was among the witnesses who are returning to the stand five years after testifying in the landmark #MeToo case. But prosecutors, some defense lawyers and the judge are different - and so are the contours of the testimony and evidence being elicited.
For instance, this time Entin didn't give any details of what she said Haley told her about the alleged sexual assault.
And Entin wasn't asked about a recollection that made for a memorable and rare light moment at the first trial - a time when she said Weinstein showed up uninvited and was chased around the women's apartment by Entin's pet Chihuahua.
Farber had indicated he didn't think that having Entin describe the purported episode was fair game for the trial.
In another measure of the looping trajectory of the case, Entin found herself testifying about what she has said and written about the first trial itself. The fashion startup founder and consultant has reflected on the case in a book, on podcasts and some interviews.
Weinstein attorney Jennifer Bonjean confronted her with instances in which Entin referred to her participation in the first trial as her "15 minutes of fame" and compared gearing up for testifying to preparing for battle.
Entin responded tensely that being cross-examined was a form of "very civilized battle."
The voluble Entin said that her writing style was sometimes "mildly hyperbolic," but that she'd been describing how she girded herself for a daunting experience.
The Associated Press does not identify people who allege they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be named. Haley, Mann and Sokola have done so.
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