Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers told the jury on the opening day of his Los Angeles criminal trial where he faces 11 counts of sexual misconduct that “transactional sex” was a common feature of the Hollywood scene prior to the #MeToo movement.
According to reports the legal team for Weinstein, 70, argued in opening statements that his accusers engaged in consensual sex with their client, behaviour that was par for the course around powerful figures years ago. In the wake of #MeToo, the defence lawyers said, the women changed their story and will lie to the court.
The 11 counts include forcible rape and sexual battery. Eight women are expected to testify – four directly related to the charges and another four as “prior bad acts” witnesses as the prosecution attempts to show Weinstein engaged in a pattern of behaviour.
The disgraced formed Hollywood mogul denies all allegations and sat in Los Angeles Superior Court in front of a jury of nine men and three women as lawyers painted starkly differing pictures on Monday (October 24).
The prosecution said Weinstein systematically used his power to sexually assault women. According to reports the prosecution’s first witness, speaking through an interpreter, broke down when she said she was raped in 2013 after flying from Italy into town for the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival and the Oscar ceremony.
One of the accusers is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who has spoken out publicly against sexual assault and harassment. She was an actress when she claimed she was raped by Weinstein in a hotel room in 2005. She has since married California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Weinstein is serving a 23-year sentence in a New York state prison following his conviction in 2020 for third-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault.
His current sentence is under appeal, which means that if he wins in the New York appellate court and is acquitted in Los Angeles, he will be a free man. Should he lose the appeal, the outcome of the California hearing will determine whether he walks or goes to jail. If he is found guilty in Los Angeles he faces a life sentence.
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