Thread by @alanfeuer

Opening arguments in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial have started. The presentation by the prosecution has so far been graphic and gruesome.
Defense will present its opening statement soon.
nytimes.com/2020/01/22/nyr…

Some highlights from the prosecution's exceedinngly disturbing case:
*Weinstein injected himself w/erection meds b4 one alleged assault
*He showed up outside Annabella Sciorra's hotel room once in his underwear w/baby oil in one hand & a videotape in the other

Prosecutors also described the witnesses who will bolster their case that Weinstein was a serial abuser. One, an actress, met Weinstein @ a hotel where he demanded she have sex w/ him & his asst in exchange for parts in films. “This is how the industry works,” he allegedly said

Presenting for the defense, Damon Cheronis said Weinstein wasn't a predator or a “master manipulator,” arguing that his various accusers were involved with him in transactional relationships meant to advance their own careers.

“It was consensual," Cheronis said, telling the jurors they were “going to be shown two realities.”“You are here to get to the truth,” Cheronis later added. “The truth is there was nothing not consensual about it.”

The DA's allegations are extremely disturbing, but even more so perhaps are how Weinstein's accusers seem to have dealt w/him, internalizing the encounters & rationalizing their fear of him, prosecutors said.

One rape victim "was up against a seasoned predator who dominated the industry she was working so hard to break into," prosecutors said. Weinstein told her "people who were not his friends did not do very well in the industry. She was instantly reduced to HW’s rag doll."

This victim "made a decision," prosecutors said, "that ultimately led her to feeling suicidal. She tried to have a relationship with the defendant. She continued to see him and have additional sexual encounters with him."

Here's a link to the latest Harvey Weinstein story w/@Jan_Ransom.
The prosecution made an exceedingly detailed and disturbing opening statement about Weinstein's history of abuse reaching back to the 90s.
The defense has said the relations were consensual.
nytimes.com/2020/01/22/nyr…

@Jan_Ransom B4 trial ended for the day prosecutors called their 1st witness, Lance Maerov, a board member of the Weinstein Co. W/Maerov on the stand, prosecutors showed a photo of Weinstein w/Bill Clinton suggesting the scope of his power. Artie Aidala, a defense lawyer, objected saying...

@Jan_Ransom ...after testimony finished, "President Clinton has nothing to do with this case at all. It is 100 percent irrelevant."

@Jan_Ransom But Joan Illuzzi, a prosecutor, said that Weinstein sometimes took personal calls from Clinton while he was with one of his victims, a young actress from a small town in Washington, to intimidate her. "Anyone," Illuzzi said, "especially from a dairy farm...would be intimidated."

@Jan_Ransom Maerov described Weinstein during his time on the stand as loud and imposing. Illuzzi later said his testimony helped paint Weinstein as a “large imposing man, a loud figure, not the frail person you see now.”
(N.B. Weinstein did not use his walker today as he has been lately.)

@Jan_Ransom To recap, on Day 1 of Weinstein trial the jury heard:
*HW injected erection meds into genitals
*Showed up at actress' hotel room in underwear w/baby oil
*Took calls from Bill Clinton to impress alleged rape victim
*Tried to coerce a 3some saying, "This is how the industry works."