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 Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to raping Jessica Mann and
to sexually assaulting another woman, Mimi Haleyi.
During the weeks-long trial, Weinstein's attorneys questioned
his accusers about their appearance at the time of the alleged
attacks, their drinking habits and whether they used Weinstein
to land a Hollywood acting job.
"Just because we live in the Me Too era doesn’t mean you don’t
attack in defense of your clients," said Tom Mesereau, who
represented comedian Bill Cosby in his sexual assault trial.
The Weinstein case is a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in
which women have accused powerful men in business,
entertainment, media, and politics of sexual misconduct.
Legal experts said the movement has complicated the work of
defending someone like Weinstein because a jury is more likely
to sympathize with the alleged victims.
But accusers should not expect a shift in legal standards or
tactics, experts said.
Weinstein's defense team said in their opening statements that
his accusers are reframing old interactions.
During the trial, Weinstein's lead attorney, Donna Rotunno,
repeatedly suggested that Mann willingly had sex with Weinstein
to advance her career. At one point she asked whether Mann
“manipulated” Weinstein when she sent him friendly messages and
asked to see him, even though she was not attracted to him.
Rotunno pressed another accuser, actress Annabella Sciorra about
the amount of wine she drank before Weinstein allegedly attacked
her, whether she tried to scratch him during the encounter and
why she did not report the incident to police.
On social media, women recoiled at such questioning.
"Weinstein's attorneys are victim blaming bullies," actress and
writer Sarah Ann Masse wrote in a Feb. 3 Twitter post. Masse has
said she was a victim of Weinstein's sexual misconduct.
Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses,
have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. He has denied the
allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse called the questioning of
Sciorra "monstrous."
"Victims like Sciorra, who says she repressed her pain, or who
just tried to move on, or who never quite found a way to make
sense of the horror - our legal system still doesn’t have a good
way to consider those victims," wrote Hesse on Jan. 24.
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Reached for comment, a spokesman for Weinstein referred Reuters to a
Feb. 2 letter Rotunno wrote to the Post in response to that column.
"Mr. Weinstein is entitled to his day in court, entitled to his
Sixth Amendment right to confront his accusers and entitled to have
his attorneys ask questions on his behalf," she wrote. "In asking
those questions, we ask things that may make people 'uncomfortable'
because the subject matter is uncomfortable and at times sensitive.
However, we are respectful and measured in our examination."
A spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office declined to
comment for this article.
One former federal sex crimes prosecutor said that Weinstein's team
had a duty to dig into the motives of the accusers and challenge
their credibility.
"There are people who believe because of #MeToo that they don't have
to be cross-examined and challenged," said Julieanne Himelstein.
"Well, her claim has to be tested like every other claim."
But experts said defense teams face heightened risks in the that
aggressive questioning of accusers in the #MeToo era will antagonize
jurors who have grown more sensitive to allegations of sexual
misconduct.
Daniel Hochheiser, a New York criminal defense lawyer and former
prosecutor, said Weinstein's lawyers have sounded "somewhat harsh"
during cross-examination.
Under questioning by the defense on Feb. 3, Mann broke down crying
uncontrollably, prompting the judge to end the day's proceedings
early. Hochheiser said that cross-examination can backfire for the
defense if it makes the witness appear sympathetic to the jury.
Someone who has brought an allegation of a sex crime to court needed
to be treated "with kid gloves to some extent," Hochheiser said.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Brendan Pierson
in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Grant McCool)
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