Harvey Weinstein’s lead defense attorney spent five hours trying to convince jurors during closing arguments Thursday that her Oscar-winning client is innocent — and implored them to have the “courage” to acquit the movie mogul.
Attorney Donna Rotunno told the seven-man, five-woman jury at Weinstein’s historic sex assault and rape trial in the packed Manhattan Supreme courtroom that “the time to do the right thing is now.”
“In the alternative universe that the prosecutors have created for you, Harvey Weinstein is a monster, he’s unattractive, he’s overweight,” said Rotunno.
The lawyer then pointed to the nude photos of the once-powerful portly producer that were shown to jurors, presumably to help corroborate his accuser’s description of his allegedly “deformed” genitalia.
“They showed you naked photographs of him. Ask yourself why,” Rotunno said. “To do nothing more than shame him.”
Rotunno, wearing her large eyeglasses and dressed in a black blouse, black pencil skirt and Ferragamo stilettos, attacked the prosecution’s case for its “irony” using movie metaphors.
“The irony is the ADAs, in this case, are the producers and they are writing the script in their story,” she said. “They’ve created a universe that strips adult women of common sense, autonomy and responsibility.”
The lawyer, who has previously made controversial comments about the #MeToo movement, told jurors that in the prosecution’s “universe, women are not responsible for the parties they attend, the men they flirt with, the choices they make to further their careers, the hotel room invitations and the plane tickets they accept.”
“In this script, a powerful man is the villain, and he is so unattractive and large that no woman would ever want to sleep with him voluntarily,” Rotunno said. “Regret doesn’t exist in this world.”
Rotunno, who used a PowerPoint presentation during her remarks to refer back to the testimony of Weinstein’s accusers, earlier told the jury: “The DA has failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. On behalf of Mr. Weinstein, we are imploring you to have the courage to tell them that by saying ‘not guilty’ on all counts.”
The defense attorney told the jurors that when they first came into the courthouse at 100 Centre St., “you may have had a gut feeling that you thought Harvey Weinstein could be guilty.”
But, she said, if they “apply the legal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, you can’t find Mr. Weinstein guilty.”
She told the panelists to “stand your ground,” saying that “you are the ones that are here asking, being asked to make, possibly, an unpopular decision.”
“In this country, it is the unpopular people who need juries the most,” Rotunno said.
Weinstein, 67, faces two counts of predatory sexual assault, two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sex act stemming from the allegations of one-time aspiring actress Jessica Mann, former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haleyi and “The Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra.
Mann, 34, has accused Weinstein of raping her twice, including once at the DoubleTree Hotel in Midtown in March 2013, and another time months later in Los Angeles. Weinstein is only charged in the March incident involving Mann.
Haleyi, 42, has claimed that Weinstein forced oral sex on her and yanked out her tampon in July 2006 after the Hollywood powerbroker invited her to his Soho apartment, while Sciorra, 59, has accused Weinstein of raping her at her Manhattan home in the winter of 1993-1994. Sciorra’s allegation cannot be prosecuted as rape due to New York’s statute of limitations, but it is being used as part of the predatory sexual assault counts.
Other accusers — Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff and Lauren Young — also testified in the more than month-long trial as “prior bad acts” witnesses, even though Weinstein is not charged with any wrongdoing involving them.
In trying to prove to jurors that her client is innocent, Rotunno referred back to jovial emails that the accusers have sent Weinstein even after the alleged attacks, and claimed that the accusers were aiming to advance their careers.
Rotunno, who sometimes referred to legal explanations, told the jury, “If you don’t believe Miriam Haleyi or Jessica Mann, you don’t have to evaluate anyone else.”
Haleyi has testified that sometime before the alleged sex attack, Weinstein pushed his way into her apartment after she declined an offer to go with him on a private jet to Paris.
“This is a woman who says he barged his way into her apartment — she wanted him to leave. This is a woman who says, ‘I could not go to Paris with him because I have no interest in him, whatsoever.’ Then on July 10 [the day of the alleged sex assault], thinks absolutely nothing of going to his house,” Rotunno said.
Rotunno, who accused Haleyi of “using” Weinstein, added: “Either Miriam Haleyi did not want to be alone with Harvey Weinstein and she would not put herself in such a position or she did want to be alone with him and she cannot admit that fact.”
In attempting to discredit Mann, Rotunno referred to a former pal’s testimony about how Mann “pinched” Weinstein’s cheek when she first met him and called him “cute.”
The attorney also noted how Mann agreed to give Weinstein a massage at the Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills.
“She was going to do anything she needed to do to have the career that she wanted to have,” Rotunno said.
The lawyer continued: “Whether she was attracted to him, whether she thinks he’s gross or smells or all those horrible things she said when she testified … she made a choice that she wanted the life he could potentially provide for her.”
Mann has testified that Weinstein led her up to his hotel room at the DoubleTree Hotel and brutally raped her before they had a breakfast meeting with her two pals in the lobby.
“In the world they create, they want you to believe she didn’t have a choice,” Rotunno said, noting that Mann “had her own room, she had her own key.”
“She could have easily not gone back downstairs or gone up to her own room.”
Rotunno said that “even if you believe every word she said … it does not rise to the level of a rape.”
Mann has said that she occasionally had consensual sexual encounters on-and-off with Weinstein for years.
Rotunno referred back to the alleged victim’s testimony about how she ultimately “gave up” after attempting to open the hotel room and “undressed” as Weinstein “stood over me until I was completely naked.”
“She doesn’t say she tries to push him off her in any way,” Rotunno said. “At that point, she’s involved in a relationship with him. She tells you they had this negotiation … then what does she do. She gets naked and lies on the bed.”
Rotunno continued, “This is not a rape. This is not a sexual assault. This is someone who agrees to do what’s been discussed.”
The attorney claimed Sciorra was brought into the case “for one reason and one reason only – one witness with some star power.”
The Brooklyn-born Sciorra is “tough” and “smart” and “not a shrinking violet.”
“She wasn’t somebody who was going to let them push their way into her apartment,” Rotunno said, adding, “She’s the person who stands up and fights.”
Sciorra has testified that Weinstein forced his way into her apartment and then forced himself on her before boasting, “I have perfect timing.”
Rotunno said that Sciorra became “relevant” after coming forward with her allegations.
“She changed her memories and now she was raped,” Rotunno said. “Once again, she’s a star. She has a new agent. Now she’s the darling of the movement.”
Since 2017, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 90 women following bombshell exposés published by The New York Times and The New Yorker.
In a reference to those pieces, Rotunno said, “In October 2017, Harvey was no longer the famous Hollywood producer. He was no longer the king of Hollywood. He was the target of a cause and of a movement.”
“This is not a game. This is not some rubber stamp media version of events or a kow tow to the court of public opinion,” the attorney said. “This is a criminal trial and in a criminal trial proof matters, evidence matters. It’s a criminal trial where we don’t judge on sympathy or emotion.”
In her concluding remarks, Rotunno said, “Harvey Weinstein is not guilty of these charges.”
“The state has failed to meet their burden and you don’t have to feel sorry for them because they win when justice is done,” she told the jurors. “They’re not supposed to have a stake in the game. They’re supposed to bring to you a case and hope for justice.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who has appeared in the courtroom regularly during the trial, was present for the defense’s closing arguments.
Lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents Haleyi and Young, and attorney Douglas Wigdor, who represents Wulff, sat on the prosecution’s side of the courtroom during the closing arguments, while Rotunno’s father and her pals from Chicago sat on the defense’s side.
Rotunno laid into Allred, seated in the front row, saying, “She sits here because she knows there is a pot of gold at the end of this criminal trial.”
Jussie Smollett’s lawyer, Tina Glandion, was also seated in the defense section of the courtroom.
The defense rested its case in the landmark trial Tuesday without putting Weinstein on the witness stand, although the disgraced movie mogul told reporters that he “wanted to” testify.
Before Rotunno delivered her remarks, Justice James Burke asked Weinstein if he was sure that he did not want to testify, “given your subsequent statements.”
“Yes,” responded Weinstein, wearing a black suit and striped blue tie.
As the once-powerful Hollywood heavyweight entered the courthouse for the day using his walker, he answered “No” when asked by a reporter whether he was nervous.
The jury is slated to hear closing arguments by the prosecution on Friday.
Deliberations in the #MeToo-era trial are scheduled to start next week.
Weinstein, a father of five, has continued to maintain his innocence, claiming that all of his sexual encounters were consensual.
If convicted of the top charge, predatory sexual assault, the fallen film titan faces up to life in prison.