Weinstein painted as predator as trial opens

Harvey Weinstein NEW YORK — went on trial Wednesday in a landmark moment for the # MeToo movement, with prosecutors painting him as a sexual predator who used his movie-magnate stature to abuse women for decades, while his lawyers sought to discredit his accusers and portray the encounters as consensual.

Prosecutor Meghan Hast told the jury of seven men and five women that the former studio boss was “not just a titan in Hollywood — he was a rapist” who screamed at one victim that she “owed” him sex, used injections to induce an erection before an assault and pushed his way into the apartment of another woman and assaulted her.

“It is for his complete lack of empathy that he must be held accountable,” Hast said.

Weinstein lawyer Damon Cheronis countered by laying out plans to use friendly-sounding emails, calendar entries and other evidence to call the accusers’ accounts of being attacked into question.

The opening of the rape trial more than two years after a barrage of allegations against Weinstein gave rise to #MeToo was seen by activists as a milestone in the reckoning over sexual misconduct by powerful men. Weinstein’s lawyers, though, have portrayed the case as the result of a climate of accusation run amok.

Weinstein, 67, said little as he arrived at court. Asked whether he believed he would have a fair trial, he said yes: “I have good lawyers.”

Guided by aides and lawyers, he wasn’t using the walker he has leaned on lately after a summer car crash and subsequent back surgery.

The once-powerful executive who brought to the screen such Oscar-winning movies as “Pulp Fiction,” “The King’s Speech,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “Chicago” could get life in prison if convicted.