THE defense team of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein will use his disheveled appearance and declining health to influence the jury in his retrial, an attorney has suggested.
The last stand of Weinstein began on Wednesday when both sides delivered their opening statements in his retrial – a year after his 2020 conviction in New York was overturned by an appeals court.
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A scruffy and pale Weinstein, who continues to maintain his innocence despite facing rape and sexual assault charges, was wheeled into the Lower Manhattan courtroom in a wheelchair due to his deteriorating health – an issue his defense could play to their advantage.
“Certainly a defense team is using Weinstein’s ailing health to make pleas for sympathy,” trial attorney Eric Paddis, who is not involved in the retrial, told The U.S. Sun.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring him in there in a wheelchair or something and make him look extra decrepit. That would not be surprising because you’re dealing with human beings on that jury.
“They’re observing the defendant. They’re making perceptions. They’re drawing judgments regarding the defendant.
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“And if the defense can sort of score some points by saying, oh, look at my sympathetic sick old defendant, don’t condemn him to a box for the rest of his life. That’s an argument the defense might make.”
During his initial trial in 2020, Weinstein used a walker to maneuver in and out of Manhattan Criminal Court – something New York-based criminal defense attorney Stacy Schneider believes was staged.
“In the first trial, when he used to sort of hobble into the courthouse, I used to watch it. He used to hobble into the courthouse with his walker, and I thought a lot of that looked staged the first time,” Schneider, who is not involved in Weinstein’s retrial, told The U.S. Sun.
In the years since his 2020 trial, Weinstein’s declining health has been well documented in court documents filed by his defense counsel.
Weinstein, 73, suffers from diabetes mellitus, chronic myeloid leukemia, an uncommon form of bone marrow cancer, and, most recently, a misdiagnosed tongue infection, his team claims.
However, Weinstein’s major health concerns will not save him from the serious allegations he’s facing.
“Now, when you look at him these years later, he clearly looks like his health is declining,” Schneider said.
“But because the allegations are so treacherous, whether or not he’s in ailing health, I don’t think it is going to factor that well into the jury’s decision on guilt or innocence.”
‘SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS’
A jury made up of a female majority – seven women and five men – was seated on Tuesday for the high-profile retrial of the ailing Weinstein.
In 2020, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years; however, after his conviction was tossed by the New York Court of Appeals, many far-right podcasters amplified their support for the shamed movie mogul.
The appeals court found that Judge James M. Burke, who is not overseeing the retrial, made “egregious improper rulings” by allowing the testimony of witnesses who accused Weinstein of sexual assault, but whose accusations were not part of the indictment.
“I can’t believe I’m on Harvey Weinstein’s side,” Joe Rogan said on his popular Spotify podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on March 22.
“I thought he was guilty of like heinous crimes, and then you listen, and you’re like, ‘Wait, what? What is going on?'”
Rogan’s podcast has over 14 million followers on Spotify, making it the most-streamed podcast on the platform.
Candace Owens, the far-right political commentator and YouTuber, called Weinstein an “immoral man,” but believes he was a victim of the justice system.
Will that departure, will that possible public shift regarding Me Too affect the trial in a way that benefits Weinstein? It could.
Eric Faddis, trial attorney who is not involved in Weinstein’s retrial.
“I’ve always had faith in our court system and now that’s beginning to change,” Owens said on February 27 on her podcast, Candace.
“Now I’m beginning to wonder if our courtrooms have been politicized.”
Faddis, the Denver-based trial attorney who is not involved in Weinstein’s retrial, said the courtroom is not insulated from outside dynamics.
“The courtroom is not somehow insulated from social and political dynamics, from things that are going on in the culture and in the world,” he told The U.S. Sun
“And so it’s important to be mindful, of course, [of] the Me Too movement and how that could be harmful to Harvey Weinstein’s case.
“But there has also been from some prominent folks, a departure from perhaps how people viewed the Me Too movement when it first started in comparison to how they view it now.
“Some folks have come forward suggesting that Weinstein may have been treated unfairly.
“So will that departure, will that possible public shift regarding Me Too affect the trial in a way that benefits Weinstein? It could.”
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‘HOLLYWOOD GATEKEEPER’
During opening statement on Wednesday, Shannon Lucey, the assistant district attorney of Manhattan, told jurors that the once powerful Hollywood titan used “dream opportunities as weapons” to intimidate, threaten, and prey on young aspiring actresses.
“Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood gatekeeper, held power for 30 years in that industry,” Lucey said during her opening statements.
“He held countless meetings in hotel rooms with actors, models, producers, assistants.
“Weinstein had enormous control over those working in TV and film because he determined who was in and out. He used those dream opportunities as weapons.”
Weinstein, Lucey said, “held the golden ticket, a chance to make it or not.
“The defendant wanted their bodies, and the more they resisted, the more forceful he got.”
Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s defense attorney, argued that the sexual acts involving his client and the three alleged female victims were consensual and part of multiple beneficial relationships.
“Although he doesn’t look like George Clooney or Leonardo DiCaprio or Brad Pitt, you’ll hear in their words how he’s charismatic and generous,” Aidala said.
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Three alleged victims are expected to testify against Weinstein.
Former Project Runway production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haley and actress Jessica Mann, who both testified in the 2020 trial, will take the stand again at some point during the retrial.
A third victim and Weinstein’s youngest accuser was identified on Wednesday as Kaja Sokola, a model from Poland.
Weinstein, who was indicted on the new charges last September, allegedly held down the model, who at the time was 16, and forcefully performed oral sex on her at his Manhattan apartment in 2006, prosecutors revealed during opening statements.
Sokola, who is now in her mid-30s, cried and pleaded with Weinstein, “Please don’t do this,” Lucey, the assistant district attorney of Manhattan, told jurors.
Aidala, Weinstein’s attorney, argued in his opening remarks that his client got the women jobs and in return, “they fool around with him.”
“He gets them auditions, he gets them jobs. And in return, they fool around with him,” the defense attorney said.
“They fooled around with him consensually. All these years later, it becomes a problem.”
Weinstein, who is still serving a 16-year prison sentence in Los Angeles, faces up to 25 years in prison in the Manhattan case.
He is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape.