Harvey Weinstein, 2nd Ld
Date: 12-01-2022 5:36 PM - Word Count: 963

Harvey Weinstein, 2nd Ld
   Jury Hears Closing Arguments in Harvey Weinstein Trial
   Eds: NOTE nature. ADDS details from afternoon court session. Closing
arguments are scheduled to continue at  9:30 a.m. TOMORROW in Dept. 110,
Criminal Courts Building, 210 W. Temple St.
   By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH
   City News Service
   LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A prosecutor urged jurors today to end former film
producer Harvey Weinstein's ``reign of terror'' and convict him of sex-
related charges involving four women, while a lawyer for one of the
entertainment industry's icons questioned the credibility of his accusers and
said the government had a failing case that should result in his client's
acquittal.
   Jurors are expected to be handed the case against Weinstein after
hearing the prosecution's rebuttal argument Friday.
   Weinstein, now 70, is charged with seven sex-related counts involving
the four women, including Gov. Gavin Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who
told jurors she still lives with the trauma of being raped and sexually
assaulted by Weinstein in a Beverly Hills hotel room 17 years ago.
   Jurors also heard from four other women who were allegedly sexually
assaulted by Weinstein, but are not listed as charged victims in the case.
   In his closing argument, defense attorney Alan Jackson told the
downtown Los Angeles jury that the entirety of the prosecution's case could be
summed up with five words -- ``Take my word for it'' -- and said that the four
alleged victims were ``untruthful'' in their testimony and that they had ``told
you lies.''
   Weinstein -- whom Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez had
earlier called a ``titan of the film industry'' -- engaged in ``despicable
behavior'' and made sure that the alleged victims knew he ``could destroy
them,'' according to the prosecutor.
   Jackson countered, ``Did one person come in here and say, `I said no
to Harvey Weinstein and he screwed my career?' Was there one? ... Not one
person said that because it's a fable ... It just isn't true.''
   Weinstein's attorney contended that two of the alleged attacks
involving Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2  ``simply never happened'' and that they
were ``fictionalized'' accounts of events that never occurred, while
Weinstein's relationship with the other two alleged victims, including the
governor's wife, was ``100% consensual'' and had ``transactional
relationships'' and ``hate it now unequivocally.''
   The defense attorney ended his closing argument with an attack on the
testimony of Siebel Newsom, which he called a ``theatrical, overly dramatized
performance'' that was a ``pretty good act'' that had ``no basis in truth.''
   ``Jane Doe 4 cannot square in her mind that she's a successful, well-
educated, well-bred, refined woman who had consensual sex with Harvey Weinstein
in exchange for opportunity and access,'' he said of the governor's wife.
``Regret is far from rape. You don't get to rewrite your own history no matter
who you're married to.''
   As she wrapped up her closing argument Thursday, the prosecutor told
jurors, ``It is time for the defendant's reign of terror to end ... It is time
for the kingmaker to be brought to justice.''
   Martinez had told jurors earlier in her closing argument that
Weinstein was a ``titan of the film industry'' who used his power to prey on
and silence women. She called him a ``predator,'' and said none of the eight
women knew each other.
   She noted that the women knew they would come to court and face tough
questioning from the defense, and that they knew ``his attorneys would call
them bimbos in open court for having been raped.''
   In his opening statement as the trial got underway in October, defense
attorney Mark Werksman said of Siebel Newsom -- who was identified only in
court as Jane Doe #4 but has publicly been identified by her attorney -- that
she has been a prominent figure in the #MeToo movement, and said that,
``Otherwise, she'd just be another bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get
ahead in Hollywood.''
   Two of the charges -- forcible rape and forcible oral copulation --
stem from the alleged attack on Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker, at his
suite at The Peninsula Beverly Hills in September 2005.
   Weinstein is also facing one additional count each of forcible rape
and forcible oral copulation along with one count of sexual penetration by a
foreign object involving another alleged victim in 2013, and two counts of
sexual battery by restraint involving two other women in 2010 and 2013.
   Prosecutors opted not to proceed with four other counts -- two counts
each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation involving ``Jane Doe #5,''
who had not been mentioned in the prosecution's opening statement but was one
of the charged victims in the indictment against Weinstein.
   Prosecutors have described Weinstein as one of the most powerful
people in the industry at the time of the alleged crimes. Deputy District
Attorney Paul Thompson told jurors at the start of the case that Weinstein and
his brother, Bob, created Miramax Films, which produced a number of ``iconic
and award-winning films'' including ``Pulp Fiction,'' ``The English Patient,''
``Good Will Hunting'' and ``Shakespeare In Love,'' among others. The movies
launched the careers of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow and Quentin
Tarantino, Thompson said.
   Weinstein did not testify in his own defense.
   He was extradited from New York, where he was convicted of raping an
aspiring actress and of a criminal sex act against a former production
assistant. The state's highest court has since agreed to hear his appeal
involving that case.
   Weinstein remains behind bars.
   Copyright 2022, City News Service, Inc.

CNS-12-01-2022 17:36