A model-actress testified Tuesday that she “wished to die” throughout an alleged sexual assault by former movie producer Harvey Weinstein in her Los Angeles lodge room almost a decade in the past.
The lady — recognized in court docket solely as “Jane Doe #1” — advised the downtown Los Angeles jury listening to the legal case in opposition to Weinstein that he outweighed her by “in all probability 100 to 150 kilos,” started to present her orders and handled her like she was an “object, like a field, like nothing.”
“I used to be sort of hysterical via tears,” she mentioned. “I say cease, I say no.”
Below questioning by Deputy District Legal professional Paul Thompson concerning the alleged rape in her lodge room’s rest room, she mentioned her response was, “I wished to die. It was disgusting. It was humiliating, depressing. I did not battle. I keep in mind how he was trying within the mirror and I want it by no means occurred.”
The lady testified that she moved away and that Weinstein advised her, “Come on, you are not a bit lady. You prefer it, inform me you prefer it,” and that he then requested her to look within the mirror as he masturbated.
She mentioned Weinstein acted afterward as if “nothing occurred” and was “giving her compliments,” though she mentioned she felt “humiliated” by what had occurred.
Weinstein is charged with three counts — forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a international object — involving the alleged assault on the girl in February 2013. She advised jurors she obtained an unsolicited go to from Weinstein purportedly to speak along with her in her lodge room and that she did not know the way he discovered the place she was staying underneath a pseudonym.
The prosecutor advised jurors in his opening assertion Monday that they might additionally hear from three different alleged victims — named within the indictment solely as “Jane Doe #2,” “Jane Doe #3” and “Jane Doe #4” — together with 4 different ladies who’re anticipated to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, countered that two of the victims named within the fees “simply made it up” and that it was “transactional intercourse” for the opposite two ladies.
“You will note that these had been all consensual sexual relations or, in some instances, they did not occur in any respect,” Werksman mentioned. “Mr. Weinstein is an harmless man who just isn’t responsible of the fees on this indictment.”
Weinstein, now 70, was indicted on 11 fees — together with forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by a international object and sexual battery by restraint — involving 5 ladies. However the prosecutor made no point out of Jane Doe #5, who is called in 4 of the counts within the grand jury’s indictment, and the standing of these fees was not instantly obtainable.
In an announcement launched Monday, the Los Angeles County District Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned it had “no remark presently” on the fees involving “Jane Doe #5,” including solely that its workplace is “tirelessly making certain that all the victims on this case obtain justice.”
Throughout a listening to exterior the jury’s presence Tuesday, Werksman famous that the protection is “not anticipating” that jurors will hear about all 5 alleged victims named within the indictment, however solely the 4 talked about by the prosecutor in his opening assertion.
The protection lawyer unsuccessfully argued in opposition to the panel being allowed to listen to the testimony of a girl who alleges an incident occurred with Weinstein during which the protection lawyer mentioned there was no sexual contact.
Firstly of her second day on the stand, “Jane Doe #1” mentioned she was not feeling good and wished to “apologize” for her “breakdown” Monday on the stand that resulted in her testimony being halted for the day.
She advised jurors that she was feeling responsible that she did or mentioned one thing that would have given him the improper impression as soon as he started speaking along with her a couple of therapeutic massage after shifting from a chair the place he had been sitting to her mattress, the place she alleges the assault started.
“His face modified, his eyes modified, his habits modified,” she mentioned.
The lady testified that she advised her nanny that “one thing actually unhealthy occurred to me,” however did not element what had occurred. She mentioned she did not initially make a police report out of “worry” and had “been fascinated by that every one these years.”
“I used to be afraid for my life. I used to be afraid for my youngsters. I used to be afraid for my status,” she mentioned.
She mentioned she determined to tell police in 2017 about what had occurred with Weinstein after her teenage daughter advised her about being “terrorized” by a boy, and inspiring her daughter to go to the police about that state of affairs.
Below cross-examination by protection lawyer Alan Jackson, the girl acknowledged that she did not ask to vary her lodge room or inform lodge employees what had occurred.
She mentioned she had met Weinstein as soon as earlier than — in Rome. probably a yr or two earlier than being re-introduced to him on the Los Angeles Italia Movie Competition in February 2013 — and mentioned he requested her to go to his room. She mentioned she did not converse a lot English on the time, however understood the invitation and stood up and left as a substitute.
The lady contended that she did not know after they had been first launched what his social standing was and had heard of flicks reminiscent of “Pulp Fiction,” “Shakespeare In Love” and “The English Affected person,” however “did not know he was behind these motion pictures.”
She is due again on the stand for extra questioning Wednesday.
The prosecutor mentioned in his opening assertion that the alleged victims feared that Weinstein — whom he described as essentially the most highly effective particular person within the leisure business on the time — might crush their careers in the event that they reported the allegations, however that one mannequin got here ahead quickly afterward to report the alleged assault on her in a New York lodge room in 2015.
The prosecutor mentioned one of many alleged victims — Jane Doe #4 — is now married to California’s governor and confirmed a photograph of Gov. Gavin Newsom and his spouse, however mentioned she was a “powerless actor making an attempt to make her method in Hollywood” when she met Weinstein 17 years in the past.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who was not named throughout the court docket session, is predicted to testify concerning the alleged assault in a lodge room at The Peninsula in Beverly Hills after initially assembly him at a movie competition in Toronto in 2005.
“Jane Doe #4” reported that she was “crying and shaking” after Weinstein allegedly took her by the arm from a lodge room rest room, pulled her onto the mattress and advised her, “Calm down, that is going to make you are feeling higher,” in accordance with the prosecutor.
Weinstein started his leisure profession as a live performance promoter after which, along with his brother Bob, created Miramax Movies, which produced plenty of “iconic and award-winning movies” together with “Pulp Fiction,” “The English Affected person,” “Good Will Searching” and “Shakespeare In Love,” amongst others, the prosecutor famous.
The films launched the careers of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Quentin Tarantino and Gwyneth Paltrow, Thompson mentioned.
Weinstein’s lawyer agreed that his consumer was a “main participant in Hollywood,” however known as him a “man of humble origins” who was “not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”
He advised jurors that the allegations “will be traced on to the #MeToo motion,” and mentioned that his consumer “turned the epicenter of the #MeToo motion.”
Werksman advised the panel that Weinstein’s accusers had been “ladies who willingly performed the sport by the principles utilized again then” and now “declare they had been raped and sexually assaulted.”
“He is not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. He is not sizzling,” Weinstein’s lawyer advised jurors. “They’d intercourse with him as a result of he was highly effective.”
Weinstein, he mentioned, “was as soon as a really profitable film producer” whose “title was synonymous with Oscars and hit motion pictures” — however is now described as a “vile monster.”
Weinstein was extradited from New York, the place he was convicted of raping an aspiring actress and of a legal intercourse act in opposition to a former manufacturing assistant. The state’s highest court docket has since agreed to listen to his enchantment involving that case.
Superior Courtroom Decide Lisa Lench — who described the fees as “basically sexual assaults or assaults of a sexual nature” — advised potential jurors that the trial is predicted to final about two months, together with the jury choice course of, which started Oct. 10.
Weinstein, who was introduced into court docket in a wheelchair whereas jurors weren’t current, stays behind bars.
