Shrink fight in Harv case
Wave of charges against powerful sickos floods U.S.
PERV NATION A blizzard of accusations of sexual horrors against titans of entertainment, politics, sports and publishing shows no sign of slowing down.
LAWYERS FOR actress Paz de le Huerta argued her private sessions with a psychologist are irrelevant to her rape accusations against Harvey Weinstein, the Daily News has learned.
The “Boardwalk Empire” actress’ representatives hope to block the Manhattan district attorney’s access to records of her treatment by Dr. SueAnn Piliero — arguing the request was “overly broad.”
Her lawyers, in court documents, said prosecutors subpoenaed Piliero demanding “any and all medical treatment records, including both typed and handwritten records” of de la Huerta’s history.
“Ms. de la Huerta’s communications with her psychologist include information about subjects and individuals completely unrelated to the grand jury focused on the sexual assaults alleged,” said lawyer Alex Straus in court papers.
The trove of highly personal data could be irrelevant and its release potentially devastating to de la Huerta, who accused the Oscar-winning movie mogul of raping her twice in 2010, Straus said.
“Ms. de La Huerta has not been given the opportunity to review these confidential and highly sensitive records detailing privileged communications” between the doctor and patient, according to a filing obtained by The News.
Attorneys are due to fight the subpoena in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday.
If Weinstein is indicted and brought to trial, prosecutors will likely need to surrender some or all of the psychiatric documents to Weinstein’s top-notch defense team — headed by noted attorney Benjamin Brafman.
“The subpoena as currently structured threatens to exacerbate (de la Huerta’s) injuries through the disclosure of highly sensitive, potentially harmful and privileged communications wholly unrelated to any facts or issues regarding the alleged sexual assault,” Straus wrote. De la Huerta just retained Brooklyn-based lawyer Carrie Goldberg, who specializes in cases involving sexual consent and revenge porn, to handle her Weinstein-related concerns.
A spokeswoman for Goldberg’s firm declined to comment Friday on how she plans to proceed with the motion or whether she will argue it next week.
The court papers also reveal that the records sought by the DA were believed “inadvertently destroyed” until their discovery in the last week or so.
De la Huerta’s legal team was expected to get the documents for review two days ago. The NYPD has said it believes de la Huerta’s claims are credible.
Seasoned prosecutor Maxine Rosenthal is handling the investigation into Weinstein and is named in the motion.
"We have not been formally notified about this motion or this court date,” said Joan Vollero, a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.
Vance was criticized recently for passing on the prosecution of Weinstein after Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accused him of groping her two years ago inside his Tribeca office.
Weinstein, now accused by dozens of women of an assortment of sex crimes, was caught admitting to and apologizing for the conduct on an NYPD recording. Vance has said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Weinstein in that case.