Weinstein trial ends, defense seeks acquittal

BEIRUT — The defense of former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, retried in New York for sexual assault and rape, asked jurors on Tuesday for his acquittal if they have "the slightest doubt," during his final argument before they retire to deliberate.

"If there is the slightest doubt in the prosecution's case, you must throw all of that out" and declare Harvey Weinstein, 73, not guilty of sexual assault on former production assistant Mimi Haley and ex-model Kaja Sokola in 2006, and of rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013, attorney Arthur Aidala announced at the start of his argument Tuesday morning.

The prosecutors will then have their turn to close their case, after which Judge Curtis Farber will give his instructions to the jurors, whose deliberations could begin on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Harvey Weinstein, whose downfall in 2017 led to the worldwide #MeToo movement, has been appearing again since April 15 in New York after the resounding overturn of his 2024 conviction to 23 years in prison for the sexual assault of Mimi Haley and the rape of Jessica Mann. The trial also covered a new charge for a sexual assault on Kaja Sokola.

Harvey Weinstein has always pleaded not guilty. His lawyer reiterated on Tuesday that all sexual relations were consensual, and that the alleged victims, all of whom testified in this new trial, were lying. "These are women who had their dreams shattered [...] These are the women they're asking you to believe," Arthur Aidala stated.

"I'm being raped"

The first accuser to testify in this trial, Miriam Haley, reiterated that she was "raped" by Harvey Weinstein, recalling a day in July 2006 when she accepted an invitation to his New York apartment while she was a young production assistant looking for work. "I thought to myself: 'I'm being raped, that's how it is,'" she testified before the court.

Kaja Sokola accuses Weinstein of assaulting her when she was 16 and 19 years old. In court, she said she met Harvey Weinstein for the first time during a dinner with other models at a Manhattan restaurant in 2002, on her first solo trip to New York.

"I felt very special" when the then all-powerful producer, 40 years her senior, approached her, while she dreamed of a career in cinema. Harvey Weinstein invited her to lunch, but he ultimately took her to an apartment in Manhattan where, she claims, he sexually assaulted her.

Kaja Sokola saw him again in 2006, at a lunch where her sister Ewa was also present, because she wanted to convince her that she knew people in the film industry and could make a career there.

According to her, Harvey Weinstein allegedly pretended to want her to read a script to lure her into a Manhattan hotel room where he pushed her onto the bed to restrain her, before forcing sexual intercourse on her.

"Was it consensual?" the prosecutor had asked during a hearing in early May. "Not at all," Kaja Sokola replied: "I told him to stop [...], but he didn't listen to me."