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		<title>Judge declares a mistrial in Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial after jury deadlocks</title>
		<link>https://hsjchronicle.com/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-mistrial-deadlock/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Associated Press]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 00:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[National]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Jurors deadlocked in&#160;Harvey Weinstein&#160;’s rape retrial Friday, forcing another mistrial in a #MeToo-era case that has gone to trial&#160;three times so far. While the former&#160;Hollywood mogul&#160;has been convicted of other sex crimes on two U.S. coasts and remains behind bars, the mistrial leaves the New York rape charge in limbo. Weinstein appeared expressionless as court [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-mistrial-deadlock/">Judge declares a mistrial in Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial after jury deadlocks</a> appeared first on <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com">The Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Jurors deadlocked in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-weinstein">Harvey Weinstein</a>&nbsp;’s rape retrial Friday, forcing another mistrial in a #MeToo-era case that has gone to trial&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-retrial-metoo-c45fa63cb6102766944dca9ee2f93878">three times so far</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While the former&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/weinstein-industry-prospects-1.4343367" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hollywood mogul</a>&nbsp;has been convicted of other sex crimes on two U.S. coasts and remains behind bars, the mistrial leaves the New York rape charge in limbo. Weinstein appeared expressionless as court officers ushered him out in his wheelchair.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The majority-male Manhattan jury had been weighing whether Weinstein raped&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-jessica-mann-metoo-71a4cf7188a36900d8dbbd4844adc6b9">Jessica Mann</a>, a hairstylist and actor. Weinstein’s lawyers argued that the encounter was consensual. It happened in 2013 during a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-jessica-mann-metoo-0d296408ab8c17e9584c05552c7b4f58">fraught relationship</a>&nbsp;between the then-married Weinstein and the decades-younger Mann.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A juror, Josh Hadar, told reporters that he and eight others wanted to acquit Weinstein. He said Mann had an “incredible memory” when she testified for the prosecution but “forgot a lot of things” when questioned by defense attorneys.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Weinstein’s defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo called it “a great day for our jury system.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Juror Sarae Perez, 25, said the threshold for a conviction — beyond a reasonable doubt — was on her mind.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“There were places where we couldn’t trust her word for it,” she said.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mann said in a statement that the mistrial “doesn’t in any way detract from the truth I told.” She said she relived painful moments and faced public attacks while seeking justice because “the power of predators remains too great.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-immediate-decision-about-a-fourth-trial">No immediate decision about a fourth trial</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Signs of a split jury emerged a few hours into their third day of deliberations, when they sent a note saying they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. Judge Curtis Farber told them to keep trying, a common step when a jury first says it’s stuck.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">More than an hour later, they sent another note saying: “We feel that no one is going to change where they stand.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A hearing was set for June 24 to learn whether prosecutors will choose to go to a fourth trial. District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he was disappointed with the result but “we deeply respect the jury system.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Bragg said his staff will consult Mann about another trial and also take into account what happens to Weinstein when he’s sentenced in another case. Mann was not in court when the mistrial was declared.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-case-returned-for-a-third-trial">How the case returned for a third trial</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As an Oscar-winning movie producer and studio boss, Weinstein was one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures and a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ee45d71e8ca44aeeb034497407345870">significant Democratic donor</a>&nbsp;before the long-suppressed sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations against him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/08e9b9b8de2e44e096b537ae2f7ca696">cascaded into public view</a>&nbsp;in 2017. The revelations galvanized the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/diddy-metoo-implications-tarana-burke-e45f80962e1a1285394d448aa212601b">#MeToo movement</a>&nbsp;’s demands for accountability for sexual misconduct, made Weinstein a pariah,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-8fe8f32a3d8db5b4a7621168174d10e7">bankrupted</a>&nbsp;the studio and ultimately led to criminal charges against him in New York and Los Angeles.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He was convicted of some and acquitted of others. Yet Mann’s allegation lingered. Weinstein was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-ca-state-wire-us-news-67057b46fcd3f1183cf6a699a399c886">convicted</a>&nbsp;of the charge in 2020. Then an appeals court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/weinstein-metoo-appeal-ed29faeec862abf0c071e8bd3574c4a3">overturned that verdict</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-retrial-metoo-c45fa63cb6102766944dca9ee2f93878">jury deliberations broke down</a>&nbsp;at a 2025 retrial. That paved the way for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-new-york-metoo-a7a6cd1ce33658980c298ee4afc6ee05">this year’s retrial</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Weinstein&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-retrial-metoo-47205d9c8743c6adb2b8a11fac6fb126">has said</a>&nbsp;he was unfaithful to his then-wife and “acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jury-heard-from-weinstein-s-accuser">Jury heard from Weinstein’s accuser</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mann, now 40, met Weinstein at a Los Angeles party in early 2013, when she hoped to build a handful of acting credits into a big career. He took interest and soon showed that it wasn’t purely professional.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She said his initial, pushy overtures discomfited her, but she acceded to them and decided to develop a relationship with him.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She was staying with a friend at a Manhattan hotel in March 2013 when Weinstein showed up early for a planned breakfast and got a room over her objections, Mann testified. She said she accompanied Weinstein to the room to talk and made it clear she didn’t want sex.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I said ‘no,’ over and over, and I tried to leave,” she told jurors during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-jessica-mann-metoo-9a2b1b0fd963c5da855e6291ef1feb88">five days</a>&nbsp;of intense testimony.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She said that Weinstein blocked her from leaving and grabbed her arms. Scared, she gave up protesting, complied with his demands to undress, and laid on a bed while he went into a bathroom, she told jurors. Then, Mann said, he raped her.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mann told no one for years about the alleged rape. Nor did she mention it in her&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-70fa9cec4c316d598547605ed2f73078">introspective, private writing</a>&nbsp;two days later. In a note to herself, she grappled with conflicted feelings about becoming “emotionally attached” in a nonexclusive relationship with a man she didn’t name.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After Weinstein’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/weinstein-mangione-combs-lawyers-retrial-de330abe46e9c98f8ab61c8953531ad9">new lawyers</a>&nbsp;confronted Mann with the note, she said she hadn’t needed to write down the allegation.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they choose to make their names public, as Mann has done.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-weinstein-defense-mann-was-supportive">Weinstein defense: Mann was supportive</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Weinstein didn’t testify. In his lawyers’ telling, Mann was a willing partner in a close, supportive relationship with a show-business insider who opened doors for her, but she turned on him once he became an outcast.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In the months and years after the New York encounter, Mann kept seeing and communicating with Weinstein.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At times, she pulled away to pursue and preserve a relationship with a new boyfriend, according to her emails and testimony. At other times, she turned back to Weinstein, who validated her acting dreams, told her he was proud of her and responded caringly when her father was terminally ill.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I love u. Anything u need,” Weinstein wrote.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Over the years, he helped Mann land a movie audition — it went nowhere — and a hairstyling job. She asked him for help with such things as a car problem and a club membership, though she declined a package his office tried to send in summer 2013, when she couldn’t make rent. Mann said she understood the envelope contained $1,000 in cash.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In one of her last emails to Weinstein, in February 2017, she wrote: “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.” When he responded by suggesting she was “joking” and should stop using his company email, she said it was a joke and apologized.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Eight months later, she saw the news reports that propelled his downfall and ultimately prompted her to go to police.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mann never sued Weinstein, but after his 2020 conviction, she filed for and got about $500,000 from a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sexual-misconduct-harvey-weinstein-delaware-sexual-assault-dover-2066ed74534e28f7149738d55125a8e4">sexual misconduct settlement fund</a>&nbsp;set up during his company’s bankruptcy. The payout was mentioned at last year’s retrial, but the defense didn’t raise it this time after extensive arguments about what could and couldn’t be said.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial-mistrial-deadlock/">Judge declares a mistrial in Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial after jury deadlocks</a> appeared first on <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com">The Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle</a>.</p>
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		<title>‘Regret is not rape,’ Weinstein lawyer says in closing</title>
		<link>https://hsjchronicle.com/regret-is-not-rape-weinstein-lawyer-says-in-closing/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Associated Press]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2022 23:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Trending News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trial]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weinstein]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://hsjchronicle.com/?p=52588</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>An attorney for Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial told jurors Thursday that prosecutors’ case relies entirely on asking them to trust women whose testimony showed they were untrustworthy.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/regret-is-not-rape-weinstein-lawyer-says-in-closing/">‘Regret is not rape,’ Weinstein lawyer says in closing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com">The Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">By ANDREW DALTON</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">LOS ANGELES (AP) — An attorney for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-weinstein">Harvey Weinstein</a>&nbsp;at his Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial told jurors Thursday that prosecutors’ case relies entirely on asking them to trust women whose testimony showed they were untrustworthy.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“‘Take my word for it’ — five words that sum up the entirety of the prosecution’s case,” Jackson told jurors in his closing argument.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The 70-year-old former movie magnate is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-los-angeles-sexual-assault-fce35526b6d1760ba1b7c051c17bd760">charged with raping and sexually assaulting</a>&nbsp;two women and committing sexual battery against two others.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Jackson argued that two of the women were entirely lying about their encounters, while the other two took part in “transactional sex” for the sake of career advancement that was “100% consensual.” But after the #MeToo explosion around Weinstein with stories in the New York Times and the New Yorker — which Jackson called a “dogpile” on his client — the women became regretful.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Regret is not rape,” Jackson told jurors several times.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for a conviction&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-ca-state-wire-us-news-67057b46fcd3f1183cf6a699a399c886">in New York</a>&nbsp;for rape and sexual assault against two women.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Prosecutors in Los Angeles completed their <a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-los-angeles-08ab20688a4317bf40052ac789fdd071">closing argument</a> earlier Thursday, after giving most of it Wednesday, and urged jurors to complete Weinstein’s takedown by convicting him in California.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“It is time for the defendant’s reign of terror to end,” Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said. “It is time for the kingmaker to be brought to justice.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In his closings, Weinstein’s attorney urged jurors to look past the emotion of the testimony the four women gave, and focus on the factual evidence.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“‘Believe us because we’re mad, believe us because we cried,’” Jackson said jurors were being asked to do. “Well, fury does not make fact. And tears do not make truth.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He was especially adamant about the tearful and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jennifer-siebel-newsom-harvey-weinstein-trial-d0734d92451b5f25ca3788a14957bae4">dramatic testimony</a>&nbsp;of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said Weinstein raped her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2005.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“It was a theatrical, overly dramatized performance,” he said. “What you saw was an act.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Siebel Newsom was one of the women who engaged in “transactional sex,” Jackson argued. “She knows it, and she hates it.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He said the testimony was also dishonest, as when Siebel Newsom testified that she bumped into Weinstein occasionally after the assault, including an encounter at the 2007 film festival, which left her “triggered.” Jackson pointed to an email where Siebel Newsom had actually sought out the meetup with Weinstein.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Jackson told the jurors Weinstein was never even in the hotel room with the other woman he is charged with raping, an Italian model who in court went by Jane Doe 1. She testified that he attacked her after showing up uninvited to her hotel room during a Los Angeles film festival in 2013.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Jane Doe 1 is lying. Period,” Jackson said, pointing to the absence of evidence putting Weinstein at the scene. “Not a single witness can corroborate that Harvey Weinstein ever walked through that door.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He showed photos of Jane Doe 1 smiling as she interacted with director Quentin Tarantino on the following night of the festival, with Weinstein sitting just a few feet away.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“This is not consistent with her having suffered the violence she suffered just hours before,” the lawyer said.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Earlier on the night those pictures were taken, according to the allegations, Weinstein trapped model Lauren Young in a hotel bathroom, groped her and masturbated in front of her during what was supposed to be a meeting about a script she’d written.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Jackson said the meeting was real but she had fabricated most of the rest, focusing on what he said were the impossible details of her being locked in the bathroom by a woman on the outside, and the room having a sliding door where photos proved it didn’t.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“None of it makes sense, because she’s making it up,” Jackson said.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Associated Press does not generally name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly or agree to be identified through their lawyers, as those named in this story have done. All of the women Weinstein is charged with assaulting are going by Jane Doe in court.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The prosecution is set to give its final rebuttal Friday morning, after which jurors will begin deliberations.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">___</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton/header_photo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">twitter.com/andyjamesdalton</a></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">___</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For more on the Harvey Weinstein trial, visit: <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-weinstein">https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-weinstein</a></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Find your latest news here at the <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/">Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle </a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/regret-is-not-rape-weinstein-lawyer-says-in-closing/">‘Regret is not rape,’ Weinstein lawyer says in closing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com">The Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle</a>.</p>
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		<title>Prosecutor: Weinstein a ‘degenerate rapist’ and ‘predator’</title>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Associated Press]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Dec 2022 20:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Crime & Incidents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[predator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prosecutor]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Harvey Weinstein was a “predator” with unmistakable patterns who used his Hollywood power to lure women into meetings, sexually assault them and escape the consequences, a prosecutor said in closing arguments Wednesday at the former movie mogul’s Los Angeles trial.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/prosecutor-weinstein-a-degenerate-rapist-and-predator/">Prosecutor: Weinstein a ‘degenerate rapist’ and ‘predator’</a> appeared first on <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com">The Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">By ANDREW DALTON</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">LOS ANGELES (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-weinstein">Harvey Weinstein</a>&nbsp;was a “predator” with unmistakable patterns who used his Hollywood power to lure women into meetings, sexually assault them and escape the consequences, a prosecutor said in closing arguments Wednesday at the former movie mogul’s Los Angeles trial.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said the accusers who testified during the trial&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jennifer-siebel-newsom-harvey-weinstein-trial-d0734d92451b5f25ca3788a14957bae4">entered Weinstein’s hotel suites</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-entertainment-movies-film-festivals-sexual-assault-a3fb5876e9d100bf59b39810a1d1aeac">let him into their hotel rooms</a>&nbsp;with no idea what awaited them.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Who would suspect that such an entertainment industry titan would be a degenerate rapist?” Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said to jurors.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She constantly emphasized the similarity of the testimony of the four women Weinstein is charged with raping or sexually assaulting and the four other accusers who testified to show his propensity for such acts.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“These are eight women who do not know each other,” Martinez said, showing the jury a composite image of all of them on a screen. “They all describe the same conduct by the same man.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Weinstein’s attorneys have said, and are likely to argue in their own closing Thursday, that two of the women had consensual sex for career advancement with the movie producer. His attorneys have said the encounters with the other two women didn’t happen at all.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After more than five weeks of testimony, jurors, who are expected to get the case Thursday, will be tasked with deciding on two counts of rape and five other counts of sexual assault dating from 2005 to 2013. Weinstein, 70, has pleaded not guilty.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In her closing, Martinez outlined what she said were Weinstein’s consistent tactics across decades. He would arrange to meet with a woman at a hotel. Then he would find a way to bring her into his suite. He would then go from “charming and complimentary to aggressive and demanding,” she said, either masturbating in front of them, groping them or raping them, often finding ways to prevent them from leaving.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“For this predator, hotels were his trap,” Martinez said. “Confined within those walls victims were not able to run from his hulking mass. People were not able to hear their screams, they were not able to see them cower.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She noted that many of the women before their assaults were reassured by the presence of other women who worked with Weinstein. Those women would suddenly and unexpectedly leave the victims alone and isolated with him, Martinez said.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“He used women to make these women feel comfortable,” Martinez said, “to get their guard down.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Three such women testified during the trial. All said they had little memory of the accusers or the meetings they had allegedly led them to, which Martinez called “convenient,” suggesting they had betrayed their fellow women.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Isn’t there a girl code?” Martinez said. “Apparently, if you know the defendant, there is no girl code.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She said that during the encounters, Weinstein ignored clear and repeated signs of lack of consent.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She frequently harkened back to a line from a witness who seemed of minimal importance when he was on the stand, Weinstein’s LA limo driver Freddy Baroth, who testified that he was often ordered to run red lights when Weinstein was in a hurry, saying “when Harvey wants to go, you go.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“He didn’t care about ’no’s,” Martinez said. ”He didn’t care about red lights.”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She used variations of the image throughout her argument.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Weinstein, sitting at the defense table, did not look across the courtroom at Martinez during her presentation, staring forward, looking at the screen she was projecting images on, and occasionally looking down to make notes.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">During their cross-examinations of the women, defense attorneys often challenged them over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-los-angeles-sexual-assault-fce35526b6d1760ba1b7c051c17bd760">continued associations with Weinstein</a>&nbsp;after their alleged assaults. Some met with him or emailed him again. Others attended parties and premieres at his invitation.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-los-angeles-abe3f37bb47dce0d0b7379aadf041e03">A massage therapist</a>&nbsp;who alleged he assaulted her after one treatment twice agreed to treat him again.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Martinez urged jurors not to make too much of such choices by the women, saying they were the result of deliberate attempts by Weinstein to cover up what he had done to them.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“If his victims were photographed at these parties,” she said, “if they took these meetings, how could they accuse him of sexual assault?”</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She said he used his power as much after the assaults as he did before and during them.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“He used that power to live his life without the repercussions of his predatory behavior,” Martinez said.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The proceedings have coincided with several <a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvey-weinstein-entertainment-paul-haggis-danny-masterson-kevin-spacey-e0be56c71bab5282e21bea0c92604e5a">trials on both coasts of Hollywood men with #MeToo implications</a>, including the rape trial just down the hall of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/danny-masterson-mistrial-rape-trial-162a670d6068f05462825a96e4193fd8?utm_source=homepage&amp;utm_medium=TopNews&amp;utm_campaign=position_04">Danny Masterson, which was declared a mistrial</a> while Martinez was giving her closing argument.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Find your latest news here at the <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/">Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle </a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com/prosecutor-weinstein-a-degenerate-rapist-and-predator/">Prosecutor: Weinstein a ‘degenerate rapist’ and ‘predator’</a> appeared first on <a href="https://hsjchronicle.com">The Hemet &amp; San Jacinto Chronicle</a>.</p>
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