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Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was again in court docket at present for the beginning of a retrial after a New York appeals court docket overturned his unique 2020 conviction.
Weinstein is already in jail, serving 16 years for a 2022 rape conviction in California.
The retrial stems from allegations made by the 2 unique accusers — Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann — in addition to a 3rd girl, Kaja Sokola, whose account was simply heard in court docket for the primary time at present.
Yet one more Weinstein accuser comes ahead
Sokola is a former mannequin from Poland who alleges that Weinstein forcibly carried out oral intercourse on her in 2006.
In line with Web page Six, the alleged assault happened in Weinstein’s Manhattan resort room, the place he’d lured Sokola “with the promise of film scripts.”
Sokola additionally alleges that Weinstein molested her at his condominium 4 years earlier when she was simply 16. Prosecutors usually are not pursuing fees associated to that declare, because of the statute of limitations.
Sokola’s allegations had been added to the case after Weinstein’s earlier conviction was overturned.
Assistant District Lawyer Shannon Lucey informed jurors that Weinstein used “dream alternatives as weapons” to prey on the plaintiffs.
“The defendant needed their our bodies, and the extra they resisted, the extra forceful he obtained,” she stated.
Lucey informed the court docket that Weinstein “held the golden ticket: an opportunity to make it, or not.”
He has been formally charged with raping Mann and forcing oral intercourse on Haley and Sokola.
Whereas Web page Six describes at present’s courtroom as “packed,” the outlet additionally notes that Weinstein’s most up-to-date trial will not be practically as huge a narrative because the earlier two had been.
All through Weinstein’s first trial, protestors gathered outdoors the courthouse and heckled the defendant with chants of “rapist,” which might be heard inside.
“This time, there was none of that,” the outlet reported at present.
The change is little doubt partially attributable to cultural adjustments which have taken place because the begin of the #MeToo motion.
But it surely might need extra to do with the truth that Weinstein’s case is just outdated information, as most observers have concluded that the ailing 73-year-old will doubtless die in jail whatever the consequence of this newest trial.
Nonetheless, plainly Weinstein has not given up hope that he’ll in the future stroll free. And for his accusers, the need for justice is little doubt as robust at present because it was after they first got here ahead.
We’ll have additional updates on this creating story as new data turns into accessible.
