Prosecution recounts graphic stories of assault by Harvey Weinstein in criminal trial | Nightline

[Music] the downward fall of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been a very long and very public saga for both him and the more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct I thought no man no literally an island and he will never be the same but today is the day that both Weinstein and his alleged victims have been anticipating opening arguments in his criminal trial Weinstein is facing five felony charges which include rape and sexual assault there are two counts which accuse him of being a sexual predator those are the counts that could put him behind bars for life Weinstein has denied all the allegations saying any sexual relations were consensual in november i sat down with da naboo to know a member of Weinstein's defense team you're currently defending what many would regard as the most hated man in America why are you defending him number one Harvey has a right to a defense I am NOT the moral police on Harvey Weinstein but that's not my job and frankly it's not the jury's job either the jury's job is to determine whether Harvey Weinstein committed a crime that will put him in prison for the rest of his life for many in the me2 movement including some of Weinstein's accusers like Rose McGowan this trial is a watershed moment the trial means so much to so many but it will mean the most to the brave women testifying and to all of us Silence breakers despite Weinstein's dozens of accusers the trial will focus upon allegations of only two women Mimi Hawley who says Weinstein forced himself on her in 2006 when she was working as a production assistant and an unidentified woman who alleges Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in 2013 during today's opening statements prosecutor Meghan hast were counted to the jury in detail the stories of six women who will testify as witnesses in Weinstein's trial was graphic it was intense it was moving we're gonna see some very uncomfortable moments as poet hast referred to Weinstein as a sexual predator and a rapist who overpowered women making them feel nervous upset confused and in some cases unable to fight back laying there motionless like a dead fish during the defense's opening statement one of Weinstein's attorneys argued that the prosecution's allegations were untrue Damon torrontés told jurors that the prosecution's opening argument was a preview to a movie we're not going to see the defense presented what it says were friendly emails that these women engaged in with Harvey Weinstein after the alleged assault including I love you I always do but I hate feeling like a booty call they have quote dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of quote loving emails road to no believes those communications could raise doubt in the jury's mind about the allegations there's direct communications between Harvey and women always friendly sometimes romantic that would lead I think any reasonable person to think that the claims are are untrue there are plenty of experts out there who say it's fairly well documented that a lot of times when women are assaulted will communicate with the person they accused because they're trying to normalize something traumatic that happened to them and that this isn't unexpected behavior there are some doctors that will say that we will discredit the fact that there is no research to to prove that in a statement to ABC News Mimi Hawaii's attorney Gloria Allred said once the jury understands the context of the minimal communications by my client Mimi they will understand why they were sent and that communication after an assault does not mean that no assault took place we've seen time and time again where sexual assault victims maintain some relationship with the perpetrator and it's not unusual to make this point in court prosecutors will call upon forensic psychiatrist Barbara's if this expert will provide context for the prosecution that helps explain why the accusers did certain things and didn't do certain things based on her experience and expertise dealing with sexual assault victim during the course of the trial which is expected to last several weeks the prosecution and defense will present their arguments to a jury made up of seven men and five women inevitably you're gonna think that the prosecution wants more women but that's not necessarily true women may judge women more harshly because much of the evidence in the case is a he-said she-said the prosecution will call upon for prior bad acts witnesses to show that Weinstein allegedly demonstrated patterns in his behavior it's difficult because you don't have any smoking gun you don't have DNA you don't have fingerprints you don't have video all the things that we go to court with every day so it's really going to be based on these women we're going to testify against him prior bad acts witnesses were also called by the prosecution during the second cosby tryna bill cosby was not convicted in his first case when no other women were allowed to testify he was convicted in his second trial when additional witnesses were permitted the strategy of Weinstein's legal team which includes wrote uno will be to undermine the credibility of these witnesses among them actress Annabella she ora Annabella Shura says that Harvey forced himself into her apartment shoved her onto the bed locked her arms over her head and raped her while she kicked and screamed while Annabella has told so many different stories her first line of conversation about this was that absolutely nothing ever happened with Harvey and then it evolved and the story kept changing she says the chances of charging Weinstein publicly would change her life permanently and she wasn't prepared to face that because of all the scrutiny there was real intimidation going on well but did they feel intimidated or were they more concerned about what could potentially happen to them and were they willing to play a game that they then decided they weren't willing to play in a statement her lawyer Gloria Allred said Annabella is very courageous she will testify under oath when she does the jury will understand what she alleges that Weinstein did to her many of the dozens of other women who have alleged crimes against Weinstein are unable to bring their criminal cases to court because they are beyond the statute of limitations NDA's or our otherwise ineligible the mo is eerily similar in all of these cases you have Harvey Weinstein in a bathrobe with the promise of a career boost or he's asking for a massage going to a hotel room and having someone ask you if you'll give them a massage is not rape it's not sexual assault and it's really not even sexual harassment people have a right to make a pass and you have a right to say no thank you even if you go out on a date but you're not in a position of power when someone wants something from you but it doesn't mean you want to necessarily give Harvey Weinstein a massage or see his naked body there's many things that lead up to that point and those are the things that people don't want to say when they come forward and make these claims when someone in a position of power over someone else's career makes the pass with the explicit or implicit promise of career benefits that is the very definition of sexual harassment there are people who say here you have a woman defending Harvey Weinstein have you been accused of being a traitor to your own gender I don't believe I am I think in many ways I would hope that I could help women what happens in these circumstances where women don't want to take certain responsibilities for their actions we infantilizes you have to know that when you make certain choices there's a risk when you make those choices a lot of people would say what you just said is victim blaming and it that's absolutely not true if you don't want to be a victim don't go to the hotel room and if you don't want to be a victim don't sign an NDA then go out on the Fifth Avenue take a megaphone and talk about what you want to talk about blaming victims who've agreed to settlements with someone for not going out and talking about it is absurd do you ever worry that maybe you'll be on the wrong side of history on this one no I don't and I think what I worry about is the outcome for him I don't worry about the outcome for me as for Weinstein the charges in this case are not the only criminal charges he is facing On January 6th in California prosecutors announced new charges against Weinstein for raping a woman in a Los Angeles hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting a second woman the following night one of those women is expected to testify in the New York case now the question remains will the Fallen Hollywood power brokers also lose his freedom are you trying to join with the Weinstein his alleged victims await an answer for Nightline I'm amy robach in New York hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos 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Channel: ABC News

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Keywords: Harvey, Weinstein, accused, of, sexual, assault, criminal, trial, alleged, disgraced, movie, mogul, charged, with, five, felony, sex, crimes, rape, allegations, metoo, movement, abc, abcnews

Id: 6ip1QsIvbcI

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 23 2020