Harvey Weinstein Trial: Jury Hears Opening Statements More Than 2 Years After Scandal Sparked #MeToo Movement

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault trial is underway in Manhattan, more than two years after the scandal broke and sparked the #MeToo movement.

Opening statements began this morning. A jury of seven men and five women are hearing the case.

Proseuctors call the former movie mogul a predator. The defense says all encounters were consensual.

Dozens of women have accused of the disgraced movie producer of sexual misconduct, but his trial will focus on just two allegations.

Weinstein, 67, is accused of raping a woman inside a hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another woman at his apartment in 2006.

Every seat in the courtroom was taken as the trial began.

He slowly limped his way into the courtroom this morning, while someone else carried the walker that he used for previous court appearances, following a crash and back surgery. Asked whether he thought he would have a fair trial, Weinstein replied yes, "I have good lawyers."

The defense had been trying to get the trial moved out of New York City, saying he wouldn't receive a fair trial, but the request was denied.

In a failed last-minute push to get the trial moved, Weinstein's lawyers said a flash mob's chanting "the rapist is you!" at street level could be heard in the courtroom, 15 floors above.

The prosecution said the evidence will show that Weinstein was not just a tycoon in Hollywood, but a rapist. Prosecutors cited one alleged attack where the 300 pound defendant lunged at a 115 pound victim.

Prosecutor Meghan Hast told the jury of seven men and five women that the former studio boss 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 attacked her.

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

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

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

Weinstein has insisted any sexual encounters were consensual. He could get life in prison if convicted.

The defense then opened and said Weinstein has had to endure being called a rapist, and that jurors will be "shown two realities." The defense say emails between the women and Weinstein demonstrates they had a "loving relationship."

The once-powerful and feared executive brought to the screen such Oscar-winning movies as "Pulp Fiction," "The King's Speech," "Shakespeare in Love" and "Chicago" and hobnobbed with the elite in Hollywood and beyond, a point prosecutors made by showing jurors a photo of Weinstein with former President Bill Clinton. A prosecutor also told the judge that Weinstein had taken calls from Clinton while Weinstein was with one of his accusers.

Weinstein's lawyers later cited the photo in asking for a mistrial, accusing prosecutors of improperly trying to influence the jury. Judge James Burke denied the request.

Scores of women have accused Weinstein of exploiting his position as a career-maker to sexually harass or assault them over the years. But the New York charges center on two allegations: that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on former "Project Runway" production assistant Mimi Haleyi in his apartment in 2006 and raped an aspiring actress in a New York City hotel room in 2013.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault, unless they come forward publicly.

The rape accuser found a needle in the hotel room bathroom after the alleged assault and realized Weinstein had injected himself to get an erection, Hast said.

Another time, after the woman told him she had a new boyfriend, Weinstein dragged her into a bedroom, "all the while screaming at her that he owed her one more time," Hast said. "He ripped her jeans off so forcefully that it left scratch marks."

The prosecutor said Weinstein later told the woman, "I just want to apologize for what happened earlier. I just find you so attractive, I couldn't resist you."

In addition to the two women he is charged with attacking, prosecutors plan to call to the stand four other accusers -- including actress Annabella Sciorra — in a bid to depict Weinstein as a monster who lured women with offers of career help, then forced himself on them.

"They will each describe their fear, their shame and their humiliation — the struggle each went through to push their trauma down and show a brave face to the world," Hast said.

Hast detailed allegations that Weinstein sexually assaulted Sciorra around 1993 after giving the "Sopranos" actress a ride home to her Manhattan apartment and forcing his way inside.

"She told him to get out. She told him no. But Harvey Weinstein was undeterred," Hast said. She said the actress eventually stopped fighting Weinstein, "hoping it would end," and was left "emotionally and physically destroyed, passed out on the floor."

Weinstein's lawyers made clear they intend to go on the offensive.

Cheronis said the 2013 rape accuser sent Weinstein a request that year asking for "time privately" with him and another message letting him know, "I got a new number. I just wanted you to have it. … Always good to hear your voice."

Cherinos said: "These aren't our words. They're hers. It is not a relationship based on fear. You are going to see that."

Later Wednesday, testimony got underway with prosecutors calling to the stand former Weinstein Co. board member Lance Maerov, who described the ex-producer as "an extremely influential, powerful person" who could be charming in public and aggressive in private.

"I would say his public personality was diametrically opposed to who he was in private," Maerov said. The movie company went bankrupt after Weinstein's fall.

At the end of the day's session, Weinstein left the courthouse with the use of his walker. Asked how the day went, he said, "Good."

Outside the courthouse, attorney Gloria Allred, who represents one of the alleged victims, spoke out.

"The fact that there are is continued communication between a person who alleges she is a victim after the time or times in which she alleges was victimized does not mean that there was no sexual assault or rape," Allred said. "Yes, that needs to be explained, and I'm sure it will be explained, but context is everything."

After court was over for the day, Weinstein left using his walker once again.

Asked how he was feeling, he responded "very confident."

Weinstein's trial could take more than a month, Judge James Burke said. Judging from an arduous two-week jury selection, it could be a hotbed of protests and intense media coverage.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

In:
• Rape
• Manhattan
• #MeToo Movement
• Sexual Assault
• New York