The rape trial of Harvey Weinstein delivered dramatic and surprising moments as the disgraced film producer faced the accusations of three women who charged him with assault.
Weinstein faced five counts, two for rape, one for forcible oral sex and two more for predatory sexual assault. The jury found him guilty of a criminal sex act in the first degree for forcing oral sex on the former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, and of rape in the third degree. He was acquitted of three further charges, including the two most serious counts of predatory sexual assault and an alternative count of rape in the first degree.
The highly anticipated trial included a colorful set of characters. Weinstein himself turned up to court every day, using a walker because of a car accident over the summer. His team was led by Donna Rotunno, a Chicago-based attorney known for defending men accused of sexual assault. Prosecuting was Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, a New York assistant district attorney with a fierce reputation.
Here are some key moments from the trial:
Judge threatens to revoke Weinstein’s bail for using his cellphone in court
The typically mild-mannered James Burke, the judge presiding over Weinstein’s case, furiously admonished Weinstein for using his cellphone in the courtroom as proceedings took place early on in the trial.
“Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life – by texting in violation of a court order?” Burke asked Weinstein.
Burke told Arthur Aidala, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, that Weinstein’s $2m bail would be revoked if the former producer was caught using his phone again. Weinstein’s team later argued that Burke was biased when he said that Weinstein would end up in jail for life as it showed that the judge believed he would be convicted.
Burke promptly denied the claim of bias. “All I meant to do was scare him enough for him to discontinue using his phone,” he told the courtroom.
Survivors speak out against Weinstein
The beginning of Weinstein’s trial was marked by two protests held within the first week of the trial.
On the first day, a group of about two dozen women silently held signs with slogans such as “Justice for Survivors” and glared at Weinstein as he walked into the courthouse. Soon after his arrival, the group, who call themselves the Silence Breakers, held a press conference across the street from the courthouse to commemorate the beginning of the trial.
A few days later, another group of women performed outside the courthouse Un Violador en Tu Camino (A Rapist in Your Path), the Chilean anti-rape anthem. “The patriarchy is a judge that judges us for being born, and our punishment is the violence we have seen,” the women chanted in English and Spanish.
The flashmob protest could be heard from inside the courtroom. Weinstein’s attorneys argued that the protest would bias potential jurors. Burke, the judge, responded by saying the sound of the chanting was faint and that it would not be the only protest to take place during the trial.
Model revealed to be a potential juror
Model Gigi Hadid was one of hundreds of potential jurors who were called into Weinstein’s trial during the jury selection stage. When asked if she knew Weinstein, Hadid said that she had met him before. She also said that she was friends with Salma Hayek, an actor who has accused Weinstein of sexual harassment. Hadid is also known to be friends with Cara Delevingne, who has also accused Weinstein of harassment.
When the judge asked Hadid if she could be impartial during the trial, she said: “I think I’m still able to keep an open mind about the facts.” She took home a written juror survey but was promptly dismissed when she showed up to court again later in the week.
Weinstein’s defense team said Hadid’s appearance proved Manhattan has too much of a “carnival-like atmosphere” to hold the trial and requested that it be moved to a county further away from New York City. The judge denied the request.
Actress re-enacts assault for jury
Actor Annabella Sciorra, the most high-profile witness of the six women who testified for the case, was the first of Weinstein’s accusers to testify and re-enacted how Weinstein pinned her arms above her head when he assaulted her in the early 1990s.
“He took my hands and put them over my head to hold them back,” she said as she held her hands above her head, looking at the jury as she described the moment. “Then he got on top of me and raped me.”
While describing the incident, Sciorra’s voice broke and she frequently dabbed her eyes with tissue.
Sciorra openly cried when she told the jury what Weinstein told her after he ejaculated on her nightgown: “I have perfect timing.”
After the incident, Sciorra said she became depressed and resorted to drinking and cutting herself to numb the pain.
Witness breaks down on the stand in the middle of cross-examination
During the second day of cross examination for one of the trial’s two main witnesses, the witness broke down into uncontrollable sobbing as she attempted to read out loud a letter she wrote to her boyfriend at the time about the relationship she had with Weinstein. The judge ended the court session that day as the witness appeared inconsolable.
By that point, the jury had seen the witness break down multiple times as she described the relationship she had with Weinstein, whom she described as “Jekyll and Hyde” – someone who was charming and could lift you up but bring you down when not given what he wants.
The witness alleges that Weinstein raped her twice in 2013, though the two maintained a complex relationship that was, at times, consensual. Weinstein’s defense team alleges that all sexual interactions they had were consensual, as evidenced by future interactions Weinstein and the witness had after the alleged assaults
The Guardian is not naming her because she has not indicated publicly whether prefers to be identified.
Nude photos of Weinstein shown to jury as evidence
Pieces of evidence the court brought out for jurors, but not shown to the entire courtroom, were what appeared to be photos of Weinstein naked, according to the renderings of court sketch artists.
Before the photos were given to the jury, Weinstein’s defense team tried to strike down the images as evidence, saying they were “irrelevant”. But the prosecution prevailed and the jurors passed around the pictures, some only quickly glancing down at them before passing them to the person next to them.
Two witnesses gave intimate details to the courtroom about Weinstein’s physical features. One of the main witnesses said that Weinstein appeared to have a large scar on his body, like he had been burned. She also said that he did not appear to have testicles. A second witness also said that he had severe scarring and that she “didn’t really see balls in a sack”.
During her closing arguments, Rotunno said that showing the nude photos to the jury was an attempt to “shame” Weinstein.
Defense brings out witness’s dress from night of assault
During the cross-examination of Lauren Young, a “prior bad acts” witness, Weinstein’s lawyer Damon Cheronis put on a pair of gloves and held up a white lace dress – the one that Young claims she wore the night Weinstein assaulted her in 2013. Young said that she had not touched the dress since that night.
Young described to the jury how Weinstein trapped her in a hotel bathroom, pulled down her dress, groped her breast and masturbated in front of her, saying: “This is what all the actresses do to make it.”
In the US, Rainn offers support at 800-656-4673 or by chat at Rainn.org. In the UK, the rape crisis national freephone helpline is at 0808-802-9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800-737-7328) or 1800respect.org.au. Other international helplines can be found at Ibiblio.org.
