Weinstein used Hollywood energy to rape, court docket in Los Angeles hears
7 min readBy AFP
LOS ANGELES: Harvey Weinstein used his energy and affect in Hollywood to rape ladies, leaving them terrified for his or her careers in the event that they stood as much as him, a court docket in Los Angeles heard Monday.
The film mogul exploited each his bodily dimension and his place as “king” of the movie business to assault his victims in resort rooms, the prosecution mentioned, as a two-month trial started to listen to proof.
“They feared that he could crush their careers if they reported what he had done,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson instructed the packed courtroom.
Thompson mentioned jurors would hear from eight ladies who have been sexually assaulted by the “Pulp Fiction” producer, who’s credited with making the careers of a few of the film business’s greatest names, together with Quentin Tarantino, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Each of these women came forward independent of each other, and none of them knew one another,” he mentioned.
The jury will hear testimony from these ladies, he mentioned, together with how they begged the now-70-year-old to cease, however that he endured in raping them, forcing them to carry out oral intercourse on him, or making them watch him masturbate.
Attorneys Alan Jackson (left), Mark Werksman (centre), and Jacqueline Sparagna, representing Harvey Weinstein, arrive on the Los Angeles County Superior Court on October 24, 2022 | AP
Weinstein, who produced “The English Patient” and “Good Will Hunting,” is already serving 23 years in jail in New York after being convicted there of a sequence of intercourse crimes.
He now faces 11 extra expenses, together with sexual battery by restraint, forcible rape and forcible oral copulation in opposition to ladies in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles accommodations between 2004 and 2013.
If convicted, Weinstein — who has pleaded not responsible to all counts — could possibly be sentenced to greater than 100 further years behind bars.
Thompson performed jurors a sequence of quotes from the alleged victims, describing Weinstein as “the most powerful person in the industry,” and “the king.”
ALSO READ | Ex Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein goes on trial in LA, the place he as soon as reigned
“Part of me was thinking should I just make a run for it, but he’s a big guy,” one of many ladies instructed investigators.
“He’s big. He’s broad. He’s overweight. He’s domineering,” one mentioned.
“I still wanted to work in Hollywood so I was afraid to do anything because of that,” one lady mentioned.
“I was scared that if I didn’t play nice something could happen in the room or out of the room because of his power in the industry,” one other lady mentioned.
In frequent with most victims of sexual assault, the ladies within the case are being known as “Jane Doe,” so as to protect their anonymity, however one has been publicly recognized as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the spouse of California governor Gavin Newsom.
#MeToo
Defending, Mark Werksman mentioned the prosecution’s case was one in all amount, not high quality, and pushed by emotion, not cause. He mentioned intercourse in Hollywood was a commodity, and that this was all exploded by the arrival of the #MeToo motion.
“It was transactional intercourse. It might have been disagreeable, and embarrassing… but it surely was consensual.
“It was the casting couch. Everyone did it. He did it. They did it. Because each wanted something from another,” Werksman mentioned.
Attorney Mark Werksman, representing Harvey Weinstein | AP
“Look at him. He’s not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Do you think those beautiful women had sex with him because he’s hot? No. They did it because he was powerful.”
“An asteroid known as the #MeToo motion hit the earth with such ferocity that every part modified in a single day. And Mr Weinstein grew to become the epicentre.
“The accusers, on this case, ladies who willingly performed the sport by the principles that utilized again then, they may come into this courtroom now… and declare they have been raped and sexually assaulted,” Werksman mentioned.
Widespread sexual abuse and harassment allegations in opposition to Weinstein exploded in October 2017, and his conviction in New York in 2020 was a landmark within the #MeToo motion.
In June, he misplaced a bid to have that intercourse crimes conviction overturned. He has been individually charged by British prosecutors with the 1996 indecent assault of a girl in London. In complete, practically 90 ladies, together with Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek, have accused Weinstein of harassment or assault.
ALSO READ | Harvey Weinstein to be charged in UK over assault claims
Before the allegations emerged, he and his brother Bob have been Hollywood’s final energy gamers.
Their hits included 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” for which Weinstein shared the very best image, Oscar. Over the years, Weinstein’s movies obtained greater than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes.
“She Said,” a movie concerning the 2017 newspaper investigation into Weinstein that sparked the demise of his film empire, is ready for huge launch on November 18 within the United States.
LOS ANGELES: Harvey Weinstein used his energy and affect in Hollywood to rape ladies, leaving them terrified for his or her careers in the event that they stood as much as him, a court docket in Los Angeles heard Monday.
The film mogul exploited each his bodily dimension and his place as “king” of the movie business to assault his victims in resort rooms, the prosecution mentioned, as a two-month trial started to listen to proof.
“They feared that he could crush their careers if they reported what he had done,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson instructed the packed courtroom.
Thompson mentioned jurors would hear from eight ladies who have been sexually assaulted by the “Pulp Fiction” producer, who’s credited with making the careers of a few of the film business’s greatest names, together with Quentin Tarantino, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Each of these women came forward independent of each other, and none of them knew one another,” he mentioned.
The jury will hear testimony from these ladies, he mentioned, together with how they begged the now-70-year-old to cease, however that he endured in raping them, forcing them to carry out oral intercourse on him, or making them watch him masturbate.
Attorneys Alan Jackson (left), Mark Werksman (centre), and Jacqueline Sparagna, representing Harvey Weinstein, arrive on the Los Angeles County Superior Court on October 24, 2022 | AP
Weinstein, who produced “The English Patient” and “Good Will Hunting,” is already serving 23 years in jail in New York after being convicted there of a sequence of intercourse crimes.
He now faces 11 extra expenses, together with sexual battery by restraint, forcible rape and forcible oral copulation in opposition to ladies in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles accommodations between 2004 and 2013.
If convicted, Weinstein — who has pleaded not responsible to all counts — could possibly be sentenced to greater than 100 further years behind bars.
Thompson performed jurors a sequence of quotes from the alleged victims, describing Weinstein as “the most powerful person in the industry,” and “the king.”
ALSO READ | Ex Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein goes on trial in LA, the place he as soon as reigned
“Part of me was thinking should I just make a run for it, but he’s a big guy,” one of many ladies instructed investigators.
“He’s big. He’s broad. He’s overweight. He’s domineering,” one mentioned.
“I still wanted to work in Hollywood so I was afraid to do anything because of that,” one lady mentioned.
“I was scared that if I didn’t play nice something could happen in the room or out of the room because of his power in the industry,” one other lady mentioned.
In frequent with most victims of sexual assault, the ladies within the case are being known as “Jane Doe,” so as to protect their anonymity, however one has been publicly recognized as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the spouse of California governor Gavin Newsom.
#MeToo
Defending, Mark Werksman mentioned the prosecution’s case was one in all amount, not high quality, and pushed by emotion, not cause. He mentioned intercourse in Hollywood was a commodity, and that this was all exploded by the arrival of the #MeToo motion.
“It was transactional intercourse. It might have been disagreeable, and embarrassing… but it surely was consensual.
“It was the casting couch. Everyone did it. He did it. They did it. Because each wanted something from another,” Werksman mentioned.
Attorney Mark Werksman, representing Harvey Weinstein | AP
“Look at him. He’s not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Do you think those beautiful women had sex with him because he’s hot? No. They did it because he was powerful.”
“An asteroid known as the #MeToo motion hit the earth with such ferocity that every part modified in a single day. And Mr Weinstein grew to become the epicentre.
“The accusers, on this case, ladies who willingly performed the sport by the principles that utilized again then, they may come into this courtroom now… and declare they have been raped and sexually assaulted,” Werksman mentioned.
Widespread sexual abuse and harassment allegations in opposition to Weinstein exploded in October 2017, and his conviction in New York in 2020 was a landmark within the #MeToo motion.
In June, he misplaced a bid to have that intercourse crimes conviction overturned. He has been individually charged by British prosecutors with the 1996 indecent assault of a girl in London. In complete, practically 90 ladies, together with Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Salma Hayek, have accused Weinstein of harassment or assault.
ALSO READ | Harvey Weinstein to be charged in UK over assault claims
Before the allegations emerged, he and his brother Bob have been Hollywood’s final energy gamers.
Their hits included 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” for which Weinstein shared the very best image, Oscar. Over the years, Weinstein’s movies obtained greater than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes.
“She Said,” a movie concerning the 2017 newspaper investigation into Weinstein that sparked the demise of his film empire, is ready for huge launch on November 18 within the United States.
