Harvey Weinstein Trial: Rape Accuser Back On Stand As Defense Says Emails Show Loving Relationship
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A woman who claimed Harvey Weinstein raped her took the stand for a third day in his sex assault trial.
During cross-examination, the defense showed many emails between the two that they say show a loving relationship.
She says she kept in touch out of fear.
Web Extra: Read the indictment against Weinstein (pdf)
Email after email was shown to the court between Jessica Mann and Harvey Weinstein, all dated after she claims the former movie mogul raped her in 2013.
In 2016, she wrote to him, "Are you in LA anytime soon? I would love to see you!"
Mann said she often made up excuses so she didn't have to follow through with plans.
The defense says she like the perks of knowing him, pointing out she accepted invitations to Hollywood parties, and even asked Weinstein to sponsor her to get into a members-only club.
"The person you wanted to sponsor you to an exclusive club... was your rapist?" defense attorneys asked.
"I do want the jury to know he is my rapist," Mann replied.
Mann, an aspiring actress back then, was once in a relationship with Weinstein but eventually broke things off.
After that, she says he trapped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013, forced her to undress and raped her.
Mann says the last sexual encounter she had with Weinstein was in 2016. She went to see him under the guise of comforting him after his mother died, but when she showed up says he was naked and performed a sex act, to which Weinstein mouthed in court, "No, I did not."
Before Mann took the stand today, a supporting witness, testified she felt pressured into an awkward three-way sexual encounter with Weinstein and Mann.
She said she found Mann "crying in the fetal position on the ground," but that even though she didn't feel forced to do anything, "the situation was forced."
Weinstein, 67, maintains all sexual encounters were consensual.
Weinstein is charged with raping Mann. He's also charged with sexual assault.
If convicted, he faces life in prison.