N.Y. Weinstein case goes to jury
NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein considered himself such a big shot in Hollywood that he thought he could get away with treating aspiring actresses like “complete disposables,” a prosecutor told a jury in closing arguments Friday at his New York City rape trial.
“The universe is run by me, and therefore, they don’t get to complain when they are stepped on, spit on, demoralized and, yes, raped and abused by me — the king,” Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said, mimicking Weinstein.
Using a TV monitor next to the jury box, the prosecutors displayed photos of “Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra and five other accusers who also testified. Illuzzi told jurors that, putting aside the more successful Sciorra, who dined with Uma Thurman and dated Gary Oldman, the women were viewed by Weinstein as “complete disposables.”
“These other women, they were never in his world,” Illuzzi said. “They are never going to be in his world. They are never going to be strong enough, bold enough or brave enough to tell. But Annabella — someone might believe her.”
Illuzzi also showed a side-byside comparison of Sciorra’s testimony about confronting Weinstein in the mid-1990s — after she accuses him of raping her — and similar testimony by the woman he’s charged with raping in 2013 about how the mogul reacted when she told him she had a boyfriend.
“His eyes went black and I thought he was going to hit me right there,” Sciorra testified. With the click of a button, the rape accuser’s testimony popped up: “His eyes changed and he was not there. They were very black and he ripped me up.”
At times, Weinstein sat back in his chair staring ahead at a screen in front of the defense table that mirrored what was being shown to the seven men and five women on the jury.
After sitting through the threehour summation, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. shot reporters a thumbs up. Meanwhile, Weinstein’s lawyers said the film producer was confident, heading into the long weekend before the start of deliberations Tuesday.
Weinstein, 67, is charged with raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on another in 2006.
Jurors can consider Sciorra’s allegation in weighing charges alleging that Weinstein is a sexual predator, even though it is too old to be charged on its own.
Other accusers testified as part of a prosecution effort to show he used the same tactics to victimize many women over the years.