A woman who says Harvey Weinstein raped her was back on the witness stand Tuesday, a day after she became so upset while being questioned by the movie mogul's lawyers that the judge suspended her cross examination.
The accuser began her third day of testimony with her composure restored. Her answers were short and somber, with none of the anguish she displayed Monday, when she sobbed as she left the courtroom.
The woman is expected to be on the stand much of the day Tuesday as Weinstein's lawyers continue a painstaking review of emails and other evidence they say paint the 34-year-old as a manipulative liar who gritted her way through sexual encounters with Weinstein because she enjoyed the perks of knowing him.
One of Weinstein's lawyers, Donna Rotunno, resumed her cross-examination by reading a portion of an email the woman wrote to a boyfriend where she suggested that her relationship with Weinstein had “validated” her in a way. The lawyer then continued methodically confronting her with communications with Weinstein that followed the alleged assaults, including one where she asked, “What time are you free for a drink?” and another when she accepted an invitation from Weinstein to an Oscar viewing party in New York.
The Associated Press has a policy of not publishing the names of people who say they are victims of sexual assault without their consent. The AP is withholding the name of the alleged rape victim because it isn’t clear if she wishes to be identified publicly.
Weinstein is charged with raping the woman in a New York hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting former “Project Runway” production assistant Mimi Haleyi, who testified earlier in the trial. He has said any sexual encounters were consensual.
In the morning court session, jurors heard from another supporting witness, an actress who testified about being pressured by Weinstein into having an awkward three-way sexual encounter with him and the woman he’s charged with raping.
Emanuela Postacchini, 28, was called to testify out of order over the objections of Weinstein’s lawyers, who argued the testimony was irrelevant because there’s no evidence he forced himself on either woman on that occasion.
The timing of Postacchini's testimony came as a surprise because Weinstein's lawyers have yet to finish their cross examination of the rape accuser, who was on the stand all day Friday and Monday.
Prosecutors said they were calling Postachinni first because she has been waiting to testify for two days and has to go to Los Angeles for a Wednesday audition.
Postacchini testified that in February 2013, when she was 25, Weinstein had her meet him and the rape accuser at a hotel in Los Angeles, where he tried to persuade the women to have sex with him.
Postacchini said during the encounter, the woman Weinstein is charged with raping went into the bathroom and was “crying in the fetal position on the ground."
On cross-examination, Weinstein's lawyer, Damon Cheronis, repeatedly asked if Weinstein forced either woman to do anything and each time she responded that while she personally didn't feel forced to do anything, “the situation was forced."
Prosecutors are looking to counter a defense narrative that the accuser had a consensual relationship with Weinstein, in which she manipulated him through sexual encounters because she enjoyed the perks of knowing him.
The woman alleges Weinstein trapped her in a New York hotel room in March 2013, and angrily ordered her to undress as he loomed over her, and then raped her.
She alleges Weinstein, now 67, raped her again eight months later at a Beverly Hills hotel, where she worked as a hairdresser. She said Weinstein attacked her after she told him she was dating an actor.
In allowing Postachinni to take the stand, Judge James Burke ruled that prosecutors should limit their questioning to her observations of the other woman.
Testimony in the trial was suspended Monday evening after the woman who has accused Weinstein of rape became emotional while reading an email passage about being abused earlier in her life. It was part of a lengthy confessional email she sent to a boyfriend in 2014 about her relationship with Weinstein.
She said she continued seeing Weinstein and sending him flattering emails after the alleged rape in March 2013 because she didn't want him to harm her fledgling career.
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On Twitter, follow Tom Hays at twitter.com/aptomhays and Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak
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February 05, 2020 at 01:07AM
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Weinstein Rape Accuser Back on the Stand for Intense Cross Examination - NBC New York
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