Mogul Weinstein made sex attack victims 'feel small,' jury told

by Andréa BAMBINO

Prosecutors opening Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault retrial described Wednesday how he ignored his victims' pleas to stop and abused his position to make them "feel small."

The trial, which began with jury selection last week, will force survivors who helped spark the "MeToo" movement to testify against Weinstein once more.

The former Miramax studio boss is charged with the 2006 sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and the 2013 rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann. He also faces a new count for an alleged sexual assault of a 19-year-old in 2006.

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Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey recounted Weinstein's alleged attacks in graphic detail, saying all three women had begged him to stop, but that he had "all the power... He made all these women feel small."

The prosecutor described how Weinstein pestered Haleyi with multiple requests for massages and sexual favors before she found herself alone with him in an apartment one day in 2006.

"The defendant, three times (her) size, kissed her, groped her and she told him again she was not interested," Lucey said.

"He pulled Mimi towards him... She quickly realized he was not going take a no for an answer," the prosecutor added.

Lucey detailed how Weinstein then forced himself on Haleyi, performing oral sex on her despite her pleas for him to stop.

The award-winning movie producer, who was brought into the Manhattan criminal court in a wheelchair and wore a dark business suit, glanced occasionally at the jury as the trial got underway.

Lucey described the defendant as "one of the most powerful men in... show business," telling the majority-female jury that "when he wanted something, he took it."

- More than 80 accusers -

Kaja Sokola, who was not part of the previous trial, was an aspiring model and aged 19 at the time that she alleges Weinstein sexually assaulted her at a hotel in Manhattan.

Accusers describe the impresario as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actresses and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.

But Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's defense attorney, stressed that the prosecution's opening statement was not "the whole movie," arguing that the jury would hear no evidence of the use of force or a lack of consent.

He said Mann had introduced Weinstein to her mother after the alleged rape, and that Haleyi had "consensual sex" with Weinstein after her alleged attack.

"Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty," he told the jury.

Weinstein's 2020 convictions over Haleyi and Mann were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original New York trial was unlawful.

Presentation of the evidence in the retrial is expected to last five to six weeks.

The 73-year-old has said he hopes his case will be judged with "fresh eyes," more than seven years after his spectacular downfall and a global backlash against predatory abusers.

Weinstein is already serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.

The producer of a string of box office hits such as "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," Weinstein has battled health issues.

He has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual.

Since his downfall, Weinstein has been accused of harassment, sexual assault or rape by more than 80 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong'o and Ashley Judd.

A jury of New Yorkers convicted him on two out of five charges -- the sexual assault of Haleyi and the rape of Mann -- in 2020 but the conviction and 23-year prison term were overturned a year ago.

In a hotly debated four-to-three decision, New York's appeals court ruled that jurors should not have heard testimonies of accusers in alleged sexual assaults for which Weinstein was not indicted.