Harvey Weinstein Trial: Defense Delivers Closing Arguments
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Closing arguments took place Thursday in Harvey Weinstein's rape and sex assault trial.
Weinstein's defense went first.
Before things got started, the judge checked to make sure Weinstein did not want to testify after declining Tuesday. He did not.
Harvey Weinstein's lead attorney Donna Rotunno, from Chicago, dove right in urging jurors to "use your New York City common sense," arguing "the DA has failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt."
Web Extra: Read the indictment against Weinstein (pdf)
She says the prosecution has no evidence to prove any of the allegations and instead wove a tale to draw attention away from that.
"The ADAs are the producers, and they are writing a script," Rotunno said.
Rotunno again displayed numerous emails that showed requests for plane tickets, help with jobs, party tickets and seemingly loving notes sent by some of the accusers to Weinstein after the alleged attacks.
She compared their notes to a victim emailing a kidnapper afterward "thanks for the vacation."
"What the defense is trying to do is plant doubt. That's all they're trying to do," said attorney Gloria Allred, who represents several of the accusers who testified at trial.
Weinstein, 67, is accused of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann at a Manhattan hotel room in 2013, forcing a sex act on Project Runway production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006 at his SoHo apartment, and though actress Annabella Sciorra's rape claim from the early '90s is past the statute of limitations, it's being used for the predatory sexual assault charge.
Three other women were called as witnesses by the prosecution alleging rape and sex assault in an attempt to show he was a serial sexual predator, but he is not charged in New York for those alleged crimes.
Rotunno says all the encounters were consensual and that "women have choices."
The prosecution will present its final argument Friday. The jury is expected to begin deliberations next week.
If convicted, Weinstein faces life in prison.
