Jury deliberations resumed Wednesday at Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial with jurors focusing on the testimony of a former TV and film production assistant who accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexually abusing her in his Manhattan apartment.
A note from the jury said it wants to re-examine Miriam Haleyi’s account alleging Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 after he got her a job working on “Project Runway,” a fashion show he produced.
Haleyi, now 42, said she and Weinstein had sex at a hotel two weeks later even though she didn’t want to be intimate. Weinstein’s lawyers have suggested that episode is evidence he didn’t coerce her during the first encounter, either.
The panel of seven men and five women, now in their second day of deliberations at the New York City trial, also asked to see any emails from Weinstein related to Haleyi that are in evidence.
Along with the alleged assault on Haleyi, the 67-year-old Weinstein is charged with raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.
The way the verdict form is designed, the jury also will likely be spending a lot of time weighing actress Annabella Sciorra’s account of a mid-1990s rape.
While her allegation is too old to be charged on its own because of the statute of limitations in effect at the time, the law allows prosecutors to use her allegations as a basis for charges alleging Weinstein is a sexual predator.
That charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Weinstein’s lawyers contend the acts were consensual. They focused on friendly, flirtatious emails some of the women sent to Weinstein and further meetings some of them had with him after the alleged assaults.
The Associated Press has a policy of not publishing the names of people who allege sexual assault without their consent. It is withholding the name of the rape accuser because it isn’t clear whether she wishes to be identified publicly.
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