By Jack Queen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault trial is set to wrap up with closing arguments to the jury by prosecutors and defense lawyers on Tuesday in Manhattan, a year after a state appeals court overturned the former movie mogul’s 2020 conviction.
Weinstein, 73, is accused of raping an actress and assaulting two women in what prosecutors have called a pattern in which the onetime Hollywood kingmaker used his power and influence to lure in victims and then keep them silent.
The Miramax studio co-founder has pleaded not guilty and has denied ever having non-consensual sex with anyone. Weinstein, suffering from a litany of health problems, was present throughout the trial in a wheelchair.
Weinstein already will likely spend the rest of his life in prison due to a 16-year prison sentence for rape in California.
Weinstein was convicted of rape by a jury in a previous trial in Manhattan in February 2020, but the New York Court of Appeals in April 2024 threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial, citing errors by the trial judge. Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York, when the conviction was overturned.
That conviction had been a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men.
Weinstein has been held at New York City’s Rikers Island jail since his conviction was overturned. He has had several health scares while being held at Rikers, and in September was rushed to a hospital for emergency heart surgery.
Prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who promised career advancement in Hollywood to women, only to then coax them into private settings where he attacked them.
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala rejected that characterization during his opening statement to the jury, saying the Oscar-winning producer had “mutually beneficial” relationships with his accusers, who ended up with auditions and other show business opportunities.
Bragg’s office originally accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013, charges he was convicted of in the first trial.
For the retrial, prosecutors added a new charge that Weinstein assaulted another woman in Manhattan in 2002.
The woman, Kaja Sokola of Poland, testified that Weinstein assaulted her in a Manhattan hotel room.
More than 100 women, including famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of misconduct. He has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex.
Miramax studio produced many hit movies in its heyday, including “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.”
Weinstein’s own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, five months after the original sexual misconduct accusations became widely publicized.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
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