NEW YORK — After two days of intense cross-examination and emotional testimony from accuser Jessica Mann in the Harvey Weinstein sex-crimes trial, she returned to the stand Tuesday to face more grilling about why didn't tell her boyfriend about an alleged rape and why she continued to consider the movie mogul a "friend."
Why, she was asked, did she not tell her boyfriend, whom she has identified as "Eddie," about what she says happened to her in a New York hotel room in 2013? Weinstein is charged with raping her in that hotel room.
"Jessica, you had multiple chances here to tell Eddie that Harvey was a bad guy. Why didn’t you?," asked defense lawyer Donna Rotunno.
"I couldn’t talk to Eddie."
"He was your boyfriend," Rotunno said. "It wasn’t a healthy relationship, partly because he didn’t approve of your relationship with Harvey?"
"He felt I was stupid."
Rotunno asked her about multiple emails she sent to an online self-help platform called Relationship Reinvented, in which Mann described having drinks or dinner with Weinstein and having a friendly relationship with him after their New York encounter.
"The friendship we had makes me want to catch up with him and see what’s going on,” she wrote in one message.
In another message she describes going to dinner with him. "I’m glad I did, because I talked to him about all I was going through. … He gave me good advice. … He has always extended his hand to help,” the message said.
"You didn’t tell Relationship Reinvented that Harvey Weinstein raped you in a New York hotel?" Rotunno asked.
"I was vague …the only answer I gave them about sexual assault was 'in my community,' " meaning Hollywood at the time, she said.
"After breakups, the person who decided to reach out to was the person you say sexually assaulted you?" Rotunno asked.
"Yes."
In February 2015, two years after the alleged rape, she sent Weinstein an email asking when he would be in Los Angeles and did he have time for dinner or drinks. He agrees and sends her invitations to two Oscar parties.
“Wow! Of course! Looks like a fun week. See you there,” Mann responded.
It was one of multiple emails exchanged between Mann and Weinstein in which they both wrote friendly, even loving things to and about one another.
Also in February 2015, she asked Weinstein for a referral for membership to Soho House, the members-only club and hotel where she intended to take business meetings. Weinstein responded, "Of course."
"You want the gentlemen and ladies of this jury to know that the man you asked to sponsor you was your rapist?," Rotunno asked.
"I do want the jury to know he is my rapist, and I want to continue to explain the dynamic," Mann responded.
In April 2016 she arranged to meet him at a Beverly Hills hotel, telling him, "Your input is always a blessing in my life.” In return, he gave her his hotel room number.
Four hours later, she emailed: "I feel so fabulous and beautiful. Thank you for everything!”
He replied: “U r all of the above and more.”
Earlier on Tuesday, prosecutors called a new witness out of order so that she could make her flight to Los Angeles for an audition.
Emanuela Postacchini, an Italian actress, took the stand as a witness to back up earlier testimony by Mann about a failed threesome allegedly arranged by Weinstein at a Los Angeles hotel in 2013.
Postacchini testified that some sort of sexual encounter was proposed, and that she felt "tricked" into going to the room. But she said neither she nor Mann were forced to do anything, and that Mann ran away crying, as she earlier testified.
"You didn’t see him force Ms. Mann to do anything?" asked defense lawyer Damon Cheronis. "No," she said.
"He's never forced you to do anything?" Cheronis asked.
"No, no he didn't, he didn't force me," she responded.
Postacchini, who said her English wasn't as good then as it is now, said she went willingly to Weinstein's room at the hotel and was surprised to find Mann there. She testified he "was telling us to do something" together.
"I can’t recall exactly what he was telling us to do," she said. "Me interacting with a female."
When Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi asked her what kind of interaction, Postacchini said she couldn't remember specifically what he asked them to do.
"Jessica left the room, ran away, crying. I ran after her. She was crying in fetal position on the ground, so I just tried to calm her down," Postacchini said. Did she leave the room after that? "I can’t remember."
Postacchini testified first thing Tuesday over objections from Weinstein's defense lawyers who had not finished cross-examining Mann.
“It’s absolutely premature to be putting on a corroborating witness to Ms. Mann while she’s on the witness stand," said Cheronis, who called for a mistrial. "To break up key testimony in this case for a bolstering witness violates Mr. Weinstein’s right to a fair trial and cross-examination.”
Illuzzi said Postacchini had to testify first because she needs to leave at 6 p.m. Tuesday to make an audition in Los Angeles.
Judge James Burke allowed Postacchini to testify, saying he understood the defense's point of view but Mann was supposed to have been finished with direct testimony and cross examination by Friday. Instead, she spent all day on the stand Monday.
“Judge, we believe auditions can be moved,” protested defense lawyer Donna Rotunno.
Mann collapsed in tears under questioning late Monday and Burke decided to end the trial for the day. On Tuesday, as Mann testified, she was calmer but her voice sometimes cracked and she seemed sullen and worn down.
Mann, 34, is a key accuser in the high-profile case: The embattled ex-producer is charged with raping her in a New York City hotel room in 2013, along with sexually assaulting another woman, Miriam "Mimi" Haleyi, in his apartment in 2006.
During cross-examination, Rotunno grilled Mann about why she continued to send text and emails to the movie mogul years after the alleged attack, and accused her of "manipulating" Weinstein in order to get ahead in Hollywood.
Mann testified that she was merely trying to "protect" herself, and was scared of triggering his violent temper and hurting her career.
Harvey Weinstein's lawyer: Accuser wanted him to meet her mother, sent loving emails
The prosecution is expected to call more witnesses, including so-called Tarale Wulff, who alleges Weinstein raped her in his Manhattan apartment in 2005 and will be brought in for additional testimony.
Although she cannot press charges due to the statute of limitations in New York, prosecution hopes she can show a pattern of predatory behavior with Weinstein.
Weinstein, 67, is charged with five sex crimes, including rape and assault. He has pleaded not guilty and denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex.
More: Weinstein accuser shocks court with graphic descriptions, says they had a 'real relationship'
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMimgFodHRwczovL3d3dy51c2F0b2RheS5jb20vc3RvcnkvZW50ZXJ0YWlubWVudC9jZWxlYnJpdGllcy8yMDIwLzAyLzA0L2hhcnZleS13ZWluc3RlaW4tdHJpYWwtZW1hbnVlbGEtcG9zdGFjY2hpbmktZGV0YWlscy1qZXNzaWNhLW1hbm4tdGVzdGltb255LzQ2NDgxNzQwMDIv0gEnaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAudXNhdG9kYXkuY29tL2FtcC80NjQ4MTc0MDAy?oc=5
2020-02-04 16:36:13Z
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