Harvey Weinstein still deciding whether he'll testify in NYC sex assault retrial
Harvey Weinstein is still on the fence about whether he'll take the stand in his own defense in his Manhattan sex assault retrial, his lawyer said Thursday.
As Weinstein's Manhattan Supreme Court trial inches to a close, the former Hollywood producer will have to make his decision before the defense rests its case in the coming days.
'It's usually, but not always, the most difficult defense decision to make,' defense lawyer Arthur Aidala said. 'We're gonna make a gametime, more or less, decision.'
Aidala said the defense team spent the Memorial Day weekend with Weinstein, who's being held in Bellevue Hospital, to discuss whether he'll testify.
'He thinks that the evidence at this trial has been challenged very forcefully, and many of [the accusers'] stories have been torn apart,' Aidala said. Still, he said, 'There is a part of him that is seriously contemplating whether in a he-said-she-said case, human beings feel obligated to hear the other side of the story. … There's no easy answer.'
The trial has featured testimony from three accusers — one-time actress Jessica Mann, former TV production assistant Miriam Haley, and Polish model and aspiring actress Kaja Sokola.
Mann and Haley testified at Weinstein's 2020 Manhattan Supreme Court trial, which ended in a guilty verdict and a 23-year prison term.
The state's highest court overturned the jury's guilty verdict in that case last year, ruling 4-3 that the trial court judge shouldn't have allowed testimony of 'uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.'
On Thursday, the defense called Helga Samuelsen, who was Sokola's roommate in fall 2005.
Sokola testified that when she was a 16-year-old model, Weinstein rubbed her vagina under her pants and underwear in 2002, and two years later, he grabbed her breast in a limo. In 2006, she alleged, he forcibly performed oral sex on her in the Tribeca Grand hotel, while her sister waited at a restaurant table downstairs.
Samuelsen testified that Weinstein visited Sokola's apartment in 2005, and Sokola led her to a bedroom, where they stayed behind closed doors for about a half-hour.
Prosecutors tried to cast doubt on Samuelsen's credibility, pointing out that she sent a text to Sokola saying she felt 'forced' to sign an affidavit for the defense, and bringing up her connections and friendships in Weinstein's circle.
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