PROSECUTORS GET FINAL WORD AT HARVEY TRIAL
New York, Feb. 14: By the time prosecutors at Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial give their closing argument on Saturday, it will have been more than a week since jurors heard one of his accusers recount what prosecutors describe as a vile sexual encounter with the disgraced Hollywood mogul.
In the days since, Weinstein’s lawyers have called witnesses who raised doubts about the accusers’ testimony, brought in an expert who spoke about memories getting fuzzy over time and offered an epic, hourslong closing argument painting the prosecution’s case as a “sinister tale” and the allegations as “regret renamed as rape.”
Now, prosecutors look to focus the jury’s attention back on the accusers who testified and their harrowing accounts alleging rapes, forced oral sex, groping, masturbation, lewd propositions and casting couch experiences.
Several women testified that Weinstein ignored pleas of “no, no, no” as he assaulted them.
The woman Weinstein is charged with raping said he would turn violent when he couldn’t get his way and that, “If he heard the word ‘no,’ it was like a trigger for him.”
Another woman recalled Weinstein sneering, “You’ll never make it in this business, this is how this industry works,” when she laughed off his advances. Having the last word before jurors hear instructions and start deliberating Tuesday, prosecutors must also answer some of the defense’s knocks on their case. Chief among them: that the two women Weinstein is charged with attacking were opportunists who willingly latched on to the once-powerful producer.