NEW YORK _ Eighteen months after he was led into a New York Police Department precinct in handcuffs, opening arguments in Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial are expected to begin Wednesday morning.
Manhattan Assistant Dist. Atty. Joan Illuzi-Osborn and Chicago attorney Donna Rotunno, who leads Weinstein's defense team, will lay out their cases in a lower Manhattan courtroom sometime after 9:30 a.m.
Weinstein, 67, is charged 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 alleged 2006 rape of Mimi Haleyi, a former employee of Weinstein's production company, and an alleged 2013 assault against an unidentified woman.
Four other women, including "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra, are also expected to testify that Weinstein's attacks followed a similar pattern _ the mogul would lure them in with a promise that he could give them roles or film industry jobs, often insisting that a business meeting take place in a hotel room.
Once alone, Weinstein would allegedly either expose himself to the women, request massages or, according to some accusers, physically force himself on them.
Weinstein _ who co-founded the entertainment firm Miramax that went on to shepherd a number of blockbuster and critically acclaimed films from the 1990s on _ has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, despite allegations of sexual misconduct and outright assault from more than 80 women in several countries. His legal team, now in its third incarnation since his arrest, has repeatedly claimed the encounters that led to charges in New York were consensual.
One of the unidentified women expected to testify against Weinstein in New York is at the center of a criminal case against him in Los Angeles. The victimhas said Weinstein raped her in a Beverly Hills hotel in 2013. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office charged Weinstein with forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint, though the case will not proceed until the New York case is complete.
With little in the way of forensic evidence or independent witnesses expected to be presented, legal experts believe the case could serve as a litmus test of the #MeToo movement, with the jury's decision largely coming down to whether or not they find the six women who have agreed to testify more credible than the defense offered by their accused rapist.
Weinstein's legal team has repeatedly tried and failed to have the trial moved out of New York City, citing a "circus-like atmosphere" outside the Centre Street courthouse where the case will be heard. Flash mobs, press conferences from other accusers whose allegations did not result in criminal charges and an appearance by model Gigi Hadid marked the two-week jury selection process.
On Wednesday morning, reporters and spectators could be seen lined up and shivering as the thermometer dipped toward 20 around 4 a.m. hoping to gain access to the courtroom.
