'No means no' prosecutor says as Weinstein trial wraps

NEW YORK

A prosecutor told jurors at Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault trial on June 4 that "no means no" as they prepared to consider his fate.

A New York state appeals court had thrown out Weinstein's 2020 convictions after irregularities in the presentation of witnesses at his original trial, forcing two victims of his alleged abuse to testify a second time.

"He raped three women, they all said no," said prosecutor Nicole Blumberg as she recounted the evidence of the three alleged victims of Weinstein who testified at this trial.

The Hollywood powerbroker had "all the power" and "all the control" over the alleged victims which is why jurors should find him guilty, she said.

"The defendant thought the rules did not apply to him, now it is the time to let him know that the rules apply to him.

"There is no reasonable doubt, tell the defendant what he already knows that he is guilty of the three crimes."

Weinstein's defense attorney insisted the sexual encounters were consensual, pointing to a "casting couch" dynamic between the movie mogul and the women.

"We don't want to police the bedroom" except in cases of rape, Blumberg fired back.

Weinstein, the producer of box-office hits "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," has never acknowledged wrongdoing.

The cinema magnate, whose downfall in 2017 sparked the global #MeToo movement, has been on trial again since April 15 in a scruffy Manhattan courtroom.

He is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.

Two of the accusers in this case — onetime production assistant Miriam Haley and then-aspiring actress Jessica Mann — testified at Weinstein's original trial.

Their accounts helped galvanize the #MeToo movement nearly a decade ago, but the case is being re-prosecuted at a new trial in New York.

Some 20 years after the earliest incidents were alleged to have taken place, Weinstein's defense team have sought to cast doubt on the credibility of the accusers.