Reading Time: 3 minutes
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was back in court today for the start of a retrial after a New York appeals court overturned his original 2020 conviction.
Weinstein is already in prison, serving 16 years for a 2022 rape conviction in California.
The retrial stems from allegations made by the two original accusers — Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann — as well as a third woman, Kaja Sokola, whose account was just heard in court for the first time today.
Yet another Weinstein accuser comes forward
Sokola is a former model from Poland who alleges that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006.
According to Page Six, the alleged assault took place in Weinstein’s Manhattan hotel room, where he’d lured Sokola “with the promise of movie scripts.”
Sokola also alleges that Weinstein molested her at his apartment four years earlier when she was just 16. Prosecutors are not pursuing charges related to that claim, due to the statute of limitations.
Sokola’s allegations were added to the case after Weinstein’s previous conviction was overturned.
Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey told jurors that Weinstein used “dream opportunities as weapons” to prey on the plaintiffs.
“The defendant wanted their bodies, and the more they resisted, the more forceful he got,” she said.
Lucey told the court that Weinstein “held the golden ticket: a chance to make it, or not.”
He has been formally charged with raping Mann and forcing oral sex on Haley and Sokola.
While Page Six describes today’s courtroom as “packed,” the outlet also notes that Weinstein’s most recent trial is not nearly as big a story as the previous two were.
Throughout Weinstein’s first trial, protestors gathered outside the courthouse and heckled the defendant with chants of “rapist,” which could be heard inside.
“This time, there was none of that,” the outlet reported today.
The change is no doubt partially due to cultural changes that have taken place since the start of the #MeToo movement.
But it might have more to do with the fact that Weinstein’s case is simply old news, as most observers have concluded that the ailing 73-year-old will likely die in prison regardless of the outcome of this latest trial.
However, it seems that Weinstein has not given up hope that he’ll one day walk free. And for his accusers, the desire for justice is no doubt as strong today as it was when they first came forward.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
