UPDATE 4:30 p.m. ET
Harvey Weinstein defense attorney Arthur Aidala had his turn before the jury on Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors’ opening statements, saying “the casting couch is not a crime scene” and suggesting that all three accusers in the New York rape retrial had “friends with benefits” arrangements with the disgraced movie mogul.
Jessica Mann, Miriam Haley and Kaja Sokola got job leads and auditions, Aidala said, in exchange for occasional sexual favors that were a mutual, consensual quid-pro-quo. He added that the accusers were “trying to take advantage of Mr. Weinstein when he was at the top,” and are doing so again amid his downfall.
Aidala said these were “long term relationships” that went on for years, and included fawning texts and willing meetings that took place long after the alleged assaults.
UPDATE 2:28 p.m. ET
The previously unnamed third accuser in the New York rape retrial of Harvey Weinstein revealed her identity in court Wednesday, making her the youngest alleged victim of the disgraced movie producer – as she was a 16-year-old model at the time of the first of two alleged assaults.
The woman, Kaja Sokola, was identified by Manhattan prosecutors, who said during opening statements that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in his Soho apartment in 2006. He held the Polish model down “while she cried and said ‘Please don’t do this,” prosecutor Shannon Lucey said.
Lucey said the first assault came during a 2002 lunch meeting when Weinstein had his driver take them to his apartment to “grab some papers.” Once inside, he demanded Sokola take off her shirt and assaulted her, bragging afterward about boosting the careers of Gwyneth Paltrow and Penélope Cruz and telling her she need to “work on her stubbornness,” the New York Post reported.
Sokola, whose accusations had not been previously revealed, is expected to testify at trial alongside two other women who say Weinstein assaulted them.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty, and defense lawyer Arthur Aidala countered by portraying the accusers as willing partners in a showbiz quid pro quo.
PREVIOUSLY:
Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial began in earnest Wednesday morning in New York with opening remarks from both the prosecution and defense, marking the third time the disgraced movie mogul has sat before a jury – this time with more women than men – who will decide his fate.
“The defendant wanted their bodies, and the more they resisted, the more forceful he got,” Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey said in her opening remarks Wednesday. The prosecutor quoted statements Weinstein is alleged to have said to his victims over the years, including “I couldn’t resist” and “I do not take no for an answer,” and told the jury members in attendance that Weinstein used his victims’ “dream opportunities as weapons.”
The retrial comes one year after the New York Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence, citing improper testimony and rulings. The once-powerful Hollywood producer is now being retried on a criminal sex act charge stemming from an a forcibly performed oral sex on Miriam Haley, a production assistant, in 2006; and for third-degree rape against Jessica Mann, an actress who alleges that Weinstein forced himself on her at a Manhattan hotel in 2013.
Weinstein is also facing a criminal sex act charge for an incident with a woman who was not involved in the producer’s original 2020 trial but who alleges that he forced oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel as well.
In his own opening statement, Weinstein’s lead attorney, Arthur Aidala, argued that the sexual acts on trial were consensual and were part of multiple mutually beneficial relationships the producer had with his alleged victims. “The casting couch is not a crime scene,” the attorney stated Wednesday.
Weinstein, now 73, was in attendance Wednesday morning, seated in a wheelchair he uses due to his deteriorating health. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies ever having raped or sexually assaulted anyone. The retrial, which is unfolding at the same Manhattan courthouse as the 2020 trial, is expected to last several weeks.
Weinstein’s retrial legal team includes Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer who helped overturn Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction and defended R. Kelly during his legal battle stemming from allegations of sex crimes.
Weinstein is currently in the midst of also appealing his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. The 16-year prison sentence he received from that conviction is still in effect, which is why New York authorities have been able to keep him in prison in the months preceding the state’s retrial.
