The Harvey Weinstein Trial: Unfiltered

On Wednesday the Harvey Weinstein trial finally came to a close as Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.  Weinstein was convicted last month for sexually assaulting Mimi Haleyi and for raping Jessica Mann.  Before today's sentencing, Weinstein was facing up to 29 years in prison. The defense sought a small sentence of only five years and argued that Weinstein would be unable to survive in prison no longer than five years.  Additionally, the defense argued that Weinstein had already faced significant financial and personal losses due to the trial.  Weinstein will likely serve his sentence in Rikers Island jail in New York.

Listen to this exciting (and final) episode of the Weinstein Trial Unfiltered as Harvey Weinstein is sentenced to prison.

As there was no court on Monday - this special episode features an exclusive interview with Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, an expert witness for the Harvey Weinstein defense team. Dr. Loftus was recently scheduled to give a Distinguished Lecture at NYU, but the event was abruptly cancelled upon the announcement that she would testify for the defense.  This news came after NYU had purchased airline tickets.  According to Loftus, the plans had been in place for a long time. Dr. Loftus has asked several times but as yet no reason has been given for the cancellation. Dr. Loftus believes it is because she was expert witness for the Weinstein team. She discusses her disappointment with NYU's action as well as the importance of having free and open discussions on college campuses around the country.

Is this another case of cancel culture? Harvard recently removed a professor from an internal post after students protested when he announced he was joining the Weinstein legal team. 

The defense rested their case yesterday in the Harvey Weinstein trial. They did not put up the defense they promised as a number of witnesses failed to appear. It was a short but exciting day in court as it seemed that Harvey Weinstein wanted to testify and the court went into recess while Weinstein consulted with his attorneys.  Ultimately, they took the decision that he should not take the stand. A spokesman said Harvey Weinstein made the decision reluctantly. 

Claudia Salinas, an actress, model and Instagram influencer took the witness stand today and denied the claims by Weinstein accuser Lauren Young.  Young said that Salinas had lured and trapped her in a hotel bathroom so that she could be sexually assaulted by the movie producer .

She told the court on Monday, "that never happened."  Salinas testified that she had never been to the hotel room where the alleged assault occurred. She also told her version of a number of incidents which Lauren Young alleged ended in sexual assault. Salinas contradicted Mann on a number of key points. Who will the jury believe?

Another one of Monday's witnesses was Talita Maia who is a former friend and roommate of Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann.  She testified Weinstein was in a relationship with Mann and that she did not witness arguing or conflict on the night Mann claims she was assaulted.  Maia testified that she never heard Mann speak poorly of Weinstein and in fact claims Mann once described him as her "spiritual soulmate."  Mann is one of the main accusers against Weinstein.

Today the defense called a memory expert who famously exposed the fake Satanic abuse cases in California in the 80s.  Dr Elizabeth Loftus is a cognitive psychologist who argues that people can become more vulnerable to post event information like media reports and questioning by police that will effect and shape their recollections of the events.  Her testimony includes explanations that could undermine the veracity of some of the accusers accounts.   It's a very controversial theory . . . but so was prior testimony from Dr. Barbara Ziv.  We give you the audio of both so you can decide for yourself.

There was also a kerfuffle in court today over defense attorney Donna Rotunno's interview with the New York Times podcast, The Daily, where she made some controversial remarks about the complainants.  Have a listen to hear her explanation for seemingly disobeying the judges orders.

The Defense calls for a dismissal of all the charges as the Prosecution rests. The judge is less than impressed. A defense witness talks about a "dog pile of actresses" and claims a friend who claimed rape had actually told him about a consensual encounter. Hear the same witness defend Harvey Weinstein and how the work he did that justified a $50 thousand check from the Weinstein Company.

The final accuser of Harvey Weinstein testified in court today.  Her name is Lauren Young and she is one of the witnesses  testifying so the prosecution can show a history of predatory sexual abuses. Young alleges that in 2013 she was enticed into his hotel room by a woman she thought was her friend and that Weinstein then cornered her in a bathroom before sexually assaulting her.  Weinstein allegedly said: “How am I going to know if you can act?” and “This is what all actresses do to make it.”  According to Young, she thought she was visiting Weinstein to discuss a script and followed him to a hotel room upstairs because he said he had to get ready for an awards event involving Quentin Tarantino.  

Ms Young also made bizarre claims about Harvey Weinstein's genitalia. One witness said the movie producer was intersex whilst Ms. Young said he appeared to be deformed. The jury were required to look at drawing she did of Mr Weinstein's genitalia.

Harvey Weinstein denies all the charges.

It was the most dramatic day so far in the Harvey Weinstein trial.  Yesterday, we heard more from key witness and Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann as she was cross-examined by the defense.  The defense brought up a series of friendly emails between Mann and Weinstein and she was forced to defend her own words and tone.  She also gave another graphic recount of a sexual encounter with Weinstein. She claims it was abusive and therefore not consensual. At one point, Mann even sent Weinstein a friendly email asking him to meet her mother.  This was used by the defense to further question her claims.  The cross-examination further revealed that Mann saw Weinstein the day after her alleged rape and helped celebrate Weinstein's birthday.  Mann's testimony finished when she broke down and the judge decided that the testimony should resume Tuesday.  Listen to the dramatic reenactment of the courtroom highlights in this thrilling new episode.

Today's testimony from Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann is very graphic and very bizarre.  It was one of the strangest court testimonies we have heard in our 25 years covering court. It was full of wild allegation and graphic descriptions of body parts and personal hygiene. Mann says she met Weinstein in 2012 or 2013 when she was an aspiring actress.  Mann's relationship with Weinstein was revealed to be complicated and was often  consensual according to Mann.  After the alleged rape, she went on to date Weinstein and according to Mann, he would call her whenever he "needed a fix."  When Mann recounts the alleged rape, she goes into graphic detail, at one point even says she thought at one point that Weinstein lacked proper male genitalia or was intersex.  Mann also testified that her relationship with Weinstein was mentally abusive and that “he was like Jekyll and Hyde.”

Will the jury believe that she continued to contact her rapist or will then believe the defense which is claiming she was always in a consensual relationship?

In today's testimony we heard from several  witnesses who were brought to bolster the claims of the testimony from Dawn Dunning and Tarale Wulff.  We first heard from Australian Lincoln Davies, the former fiance of Dawn Dunning. Davies explains how they were invited to lavish parties through Dunning's connection to Weinstein.  He also recounts Dunning's shock when Weinstein allegedly asked her for a threesome. However his testimony came under attack when he said he couldn't remember the year or even the time of the year of the alleged incident.  He further revealed that she had not told him about the very serious sexual assault that she says had occurred before this meeting where she alleges Harvey Weinstein put his hand violently up her skirt - in a hotel suite in Manhattan.

Then we heard from Mauricio Ferrigno who was the manager of Cipriani's Upstairs lounge where Tarale Wulff was a cocktail waitress. She says she was led upstairs by Weinstein in the restaurant to a darkened terrace strewn with building materials where she alleges he assaulted her. He said he saw them on the stairs but saw nothing untoward.

Yesterday's testimony was full of celebrity mentions including Uma Thurman, Charlize Theron, and Salma Hayek.  It began with Dawn Dunning - another Weinstein accuser.  Dunning met Weinstein nearly two decades ago when she was a waitress and aspiring actress. Dunning alleges that Weinstein sexually assaulted her.  After the assault, Dunning says she still went for a meeting with the movie producer and that claims that Weinstein offered her a lucrative contract for three movies if she agreed to a threesome with his assistant.  When Dunning declined, she said Weinstein became angry, "You’ll never make it in this business! This is how the industry works!” He apparently screamed that this is how Uma Thurman, Charlize Theron, and Salma Hayek all got their big breaks.  

Another accuser of Weinstein's testified yesterday.  Tarale Wulff  says Weinstein masturbated in front of her at a New York club when she was a waitress. After this incident, Wulff was called to do a script reading with Weinstein.  She says it was then that he  raped her.  While being cross-examined, Wulff admits that there are many gaps in her memory about the alleged rape.

Today's testimony is short but compelling and it comes from Elizabeth Entin, a friend of Weinstein accuser Mimi Haleyi. Entin is a former roommate of Haleyi and she described how Haleyi told her that Weinstein forced oral sex on her.  She also told the court that she advised Haleyi to speak to a lawyer after the alleged assault but she declined. Entin also explained how Haleyi told her  that  Weinstein barged into her apartment and pestered her inviting her to Paris as his guest.

However her chihuahua, Peanut, was chasing Weinstein around the apartment and according to Entin the 300 pound movie producer was afraid of the dog and he left the apartment abruptly. Weinstein disagreed and told a courtroom reporter as he left the building ,“Do I look like I would be frightened of a chihuahua?"

Also in today's episode, we give you an inside look at the twelve jurors who will be evaluating the evidence against Weinstein.  The jury is diverse in background and includes a woman who is a writer with an upcoming novel that describes relations between young women and “predatory” older men. Defense lawyers, who were out of challenges, argued that she should not serve because she had not revealed details about her book in her questionnaire.

This is one of the most important days of the Harvey Weinstein trial. He is finally facing an accuser who is part of the actual criminal case against him. Actress Annabella Sciorra made allegations but he is not being charged with those offenses - they are being used to bolster the case against him. Former Project Runaway production assistant, Miriam Haley took the stand to accuse Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in his SoHo apartment. Her description of the attack was graphic and she cried whilst recounting the alleged assault.

However will the jury believe her? Will they find Weinstein guilty? Miriam Hayley's story was undermined by Weinstein's defense team when she admitted accepting gifts and airline tickets and having consensual sex with him after she says he sexually assaulted her. The Defense also produced loving emails from Hayley to Weinstein - written after the alleged attack. She even pitched a TV series to her alleged attacker. What will the jury decide?

On the second day of the trial against Harvey Weinstein, actress Annabella Sciorra, known for her role as "Gloria Trillo" in The Sopranos, gave evidence claiming she was raped by the movie mogul in the early 90's (although she cant remember which exact year). Sciorra is not part of this case against Weinstein as her allegations fall outside New York State's statute of limitations but she has been brought to testify against Weinstein to show a "pattern" of predatory behavior.

Sciorra's testimony is graphic and she alleges that Weinstein forced himself into her home and raped her.  After the encounter, she alleges that Weinstein told her not to tell anyone what happened.  But under cross examination Sciorra admitted that she worked on the Weinstein movie Cop Land after the alleged rape.  Are Sciorra's accusations credible?  Decide for yourself as you listen to veteran Hollywood voice actors as they recreate the courtroom for you in the second episode of The Harvey Weinstein Trial: Unfiltered.

Is Harvey Weinstein a rapist? Many have already made up their minds, but compelling evidence from the defense could prove otherwise. In the opening day of the trial, we hear statements from the prosecution and the defense. The prosecution argues that Harvey Weinstein is a sexual predator and a rapist. They paint a picture of a man who used his star power to abuse young women and in one case, the prosecution alleges he raped a 27-year old aspiring actress. The defense paints a much different picture. In their opening remarks, they revealed emails between Weinstein and the some of the complainants that showed friendly romantic relationships. The evidence includes texts and emails -- one of which even reads, "I love you, I always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”

In the first episode of The Weinstein Trial: Unfiltered, our team of veteran voice actors will bring the trial to life and give you an inside look at the courtroom using the court transcripts to show you the truth behind the headlines.  With commentary from journalists Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer, we hope you enjoy the first episode of this daily series.  New episodes will be posted daily at WeinsteinPodcast.com.