NEW YORK _ After a once-aspiring actress claimed Harvey Weinstein repeatedly abused her during a relationship that included two instances of rape, the Hollywood mogul's defense lawyers confronted her Monday with friendly emails and other exchanges between the two, claiming she was actually the one in control of their power dynamic.
Donna Rotunno, Weinstein's lead attorney, spent three hours questioning why the woman continued to have cordial, even loving, interactions with the Miramax co-founder after she alleged he assaulted her in a New York City hotel in 2013.
Rotunno was quick to point out that the woman joined Weinstein for a screening of the film "August: Osage County" the day after one of the alleged rapes occurred. Five months later, the woman referenced the film in a polite email exchange with Weinstein.
"The movie you choose to put in there five months later is the movie he forced you to go and see. It's the movie you went to see the day after you claim you were assaulted?" Rotunno asked.
During nearly six hours of emotional testimony Friday, the woman recounted her allegedly abusive relationship with Weinstein, one she said was by turns compassionate and brutal. The Los Angeles Times does not identify women who make sexual assault allegations unless they choose to go public with them outside court.
Though she alleged Weinstein raped her in Los Angeles and New York _ including the alleged 2013 Manhattan attack that prompted some of the charges for which he now stands trial _ she also said they had several consensual sexual encounters.
Weinstein, 67, is charged in New York with first-degree rape, two counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree rape. The charges stem from the accusations of Mimi Haley, a former employee of Weinstein's production company, and the woman who testified Friday.
Weinstein has denied all wrongdoing. His attorneys have argued that each alleged assault was consensual sex.
On Monday, Rotunno hammered at the woman's claim that she kept engaging with Weinstein, in part because she was afraid he would harm her or endanger her career. The Chicago attorney noted that the woman often initiated their email interactions, even on dates after the alleged rapes. She also questioned how Weinstein could harm her career when the most significant audition she had ever been offered was arranged by Weinstein in the first place.
"I had this dynamic with Harvey where I just felt like I had to obey and jump," the woman said Monday. "The abuse occurred when he would be unpredictable and he was doing something unpredictable."
Rotunno also confronted the woman with an email in which she offered to introduce the mogul to her mother and noted that the woman kept contacting Weinstein to provide her contact information whenever she got a new phone. The woman countered again that she wanted to appear deferential and nonthreatening in order to avoid Weinstien's wrath.
Cross-examination was expected to continue Monday afternoon.
