/Weinstein accuser hits back at defense: I want this jury to know hes my rapist

Weinstein accuser hits back at defense: I want this jury to know hes my rapist

A day after the testimony of a Harvey Weinstein accuser was cut short because of what she said was a panic attack, the woman who has alleged the disgraced film producer raped her twice faced another line of high-stakes questioning Tuesday during his criminal trial.

Weinstein’s defense attorneys picked up where they left off Monday, discussing a letter that Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress, wrote in 2014 to her then-boyfriend, identified as Eddie, in which she described her relationship with Weinstein. She said that although he was controlling, he validated her in ways her parents never did.

Mann, 34, was mostly poised as defense attorney Donna Rotunno continued her cross-examination, asking her why she never told Eddie that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her.

Mann, who had entered the New York courtroom squeezing an orange stress ball in her hand, said she “couldn’t talk to Eddie.”

Witness Jessica Mann arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court to testify in the trial of Harvey Weinstein in New York on Feb. 4, 2020.Jeenah Moon / Reuters

Rotunno also brought up emails Mann had written to Relationship Reinvented, a website that offers life coaching.

“You didn’t tell Relationship Reinvented that Harvey Weinstein raped you?” Rotunno asked.

“All I said was it was in my community,” Mann said, referring to Hollywood.

When Rotunno described a 2016 email in which, after meeting Weinstein at a Los Angeles hotel, she wrote to him, “THANK YOU SO MUCH! i feel so fabulous and beautiful thank you for everything.”

Mann was emphatic in her response: “I want this jury to know he’s my rapist.”

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Mann’s testimony is a pivotal point in the trial and has underscored the prosecution’s attempts to show that the once-powerful Hollywood mogul used his position to prey on women, forcing them into unwanted sexual encounters and threatening to ruin their careers if they didn’t abide by his wishes.

Mann is one of two women whose sexual assault claims against Weinstein, 67, led prosecutors in New York to file charges in 2018 that could put him away for life. The other woman, Mimi Haley, a former “Project Runway” production assistant, earlier testified that Weinstein performed forcible oral sex on her in 2006.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges in his criminal trial and has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex.

Other women have been called in to testify to help bolster the prosecution’s allegations of a pattern of predatory behavior. They include “Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra, who claimed Weinstein raped her about 27 years ago, and model Tarale Wulff, who testified that Weinstein raped her at his Manhattan apartment in 2005 after having lured her there with talk of a movie audition.

Mann first testified Friday that she met Weinstein at a Hollywood Hills party in 2012 or 2013. She cried when she said he raped her in a New York hotel room in 2013 and described another alleged rape at The Peninsula hotel in Los Angeles, when he learned she was dating someone, became enraged and then ripped her pants and got on top of her to force sex.

She said he also convinced her to engage in threesomes, one of which she said left her emotionally shaken.

The trial began Tuesday with Italian actress Emanuela Postacchini taking the stand to confirm the threesome with Weinstein and Mann at a Los Angeles hotel in February 2013. She said that while she never wanted to have sex with Weinstein, she felt pressured and relented.

As Weinstein initiated the encounter, Postacchini said, “Jessica left the room crying. I ran after her. She was crying in the fetal position on the ground, crying so I just tried to tell her … tried to calm her down.”

Under cross-examination, defense lawyer Damon Cheronis asked Postacchini whether she or Mann were forced into the situation. She responded, “No, no he didn’t, he didn’t force me.”

Cheronis said that even after the incident, Postacchini went on to ask Weinstein in an email if he could help her get cast in the Netflix series he was producing, “Marco Polo.”

Postacchini testified that she was also subject to Weinstein’s harassment and that when she was supposed to meet him for a brunch meeting, he showed up in a bathrobe.

“He was naked and asked for a massage,” she said.

The defense later questioned Mann on the witness stand for a third day. Rotunno laid out through emails how Mann continued to keep in contact with Weinstein, getting invited to Academy Award parties and other events.

“You traded on that friendship and you used him?” Rotunno asked.

“Knowing him can open doors,” Mann said, “and people want to get to him through you, so yes.”

During Mann’s testimony Monday, Weinstein appeared to be sleeping at times, closing his eyes and drooping his head. On Tuesday, he appeared more attentive at times, mumbling to one of his attorneys, but also began dozing off.

Weinstein, known for producing hits such as “Good Will Hunting” and “Shakespeare in Love,” also faces a sex crimes case in Los Angeles, where he is charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents on two consecutive days in 2013. He has not formally entered a plea in the cases in California.

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