Harvey Weinstein’s genitals and a social media photo of Al Pacino have become major sticking points in Jane Doe’s interrogation in the Weinstein rape trial.
After three days on the podium, the first woman to testify at Weinstein’s trial in Los Angeles completed her testimony, which included a full day of grueling questions from the lawyer for an already convicted rapist, intended to make holes in her account of the night she says. She was assaulted by a former Hollywood producer.
Jane Doe #1, a European actress and model, testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted and raped her in February 2013 in a hotel room when she was visiting as a VIP guest at the Los Angeles Italy Film Festival. Through tears and sometimes uncontrollable deep breaths, the woman told the jury how Weinstein forced her to have oral sex with him, touched her, pulled her hair, draped her over the sink and raped her, all after he stormed her hotel room without warning. . (Jane Doe No. 1 speaks Russian and Italian fluently and has an interpreter in court.)
Weinstein’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson, focused on some information when questioning Jane Doe #1: the time frame of events; her social media posts; whether there are any medical records, evidence or documents about the alleged incident; Weinstein’s testicles.
Weinstein’s genitals emerged as a major factor during the experiment; The topic is expected to be brought up again and again during testimony from different women. His lawyers explained that due to surgery in 1999, Weinstein’s testicles are abnormal. During opening statements, DA Deputy Attorney Paul Thompson told the jury: “Due to an infection, his testicles were actually taken out of the scrotum and placed in his inner thighs.”
During Jane Doe’s testimony #1, she told the jury in tears that when Weinstein forced her to have oral sex with him, he asked her to “suck him and suck his balls.” Paraphrasing the graphic details, Jane Doe No. 1 told the jury, “He forced me to do as he asked…I was crying, choking.”
When Jackson questioned Jane Doe #1, he wondered how she could have reported to the police that “his balls were in your mouth” – stressing the plural word she used – if Weinstein didn’t have testicles.
“The reason you changed your story is because you realized at some point that Mr. Weinstein doesn’t have testicles in the scrotum,” Jackson told Jane Doe #1 on the podium. She disagreed with this statement and testified that she never changed her story, always telling investigators that Weinstein had abnormal genitals. “I remember he didn’t have one,” she said. “It was like empty skin.”
Weinstein’s lawyer also asked why she let Weinstein into her hotel room in the first place when he unexpectedly showed up at her door, or why she didn’t call the hotel front desk for help when he broke into her. area.
“I was confused,” she said. “It wasn’t in my mind to ask for help… I was fighting. He was holding me… I regret that I didn’t fight and stand up for myself.”
Jane Doe #1 continued her hotel stay in Los Angeles for a few more weeks in the same room where she allegedly was raped. She explained that she had to go about her life as usual and that she was in Los Angeles for the film festival and other work commitments.
“You stayed in the same room where you said you were attacked and the victim?” Jackson asked.
Jackson also questioned Jane Doe’s #1 activity on social media. In the days following the alleged rape, she posted numerous photos on her Facebook and Instagram accounts, and shared photos of herself smiling and socializing at parties, including one at the Italy Festival with Al Pacino.
“I was trying to deny to myself that this happened to me,” she explained. “My public life is part of my job.”
Jackson wondered why she used the hashtag “awesome time” in a photo posted days after her traumatic rape. He also showed the jury a bathroom selfie posted by Jane Doe No. 1 of the hotel bathroom where the alleged assault took place.
“You testified in detail about the mental trauma,” Jackson told her, then told the judge that he found it strange for her to take a picture in the bathroom where she alleged she had been raped. “She posts a picture of her in underwear…she literally draws attention to herself in this place.”
Another social media post that became the focus of questioning was a photo of Jane Doe #1 at a 2017 Golden Globes post party, hosted by Netflix and The Weinstein Company. Jackson questioned why the woman attended an event set up by Weinstein’s private company, after alleging that she had been brutally assaulted by him four years earlier. Jane Doe #1 made it clear that she didn’t realize the party was affiliated with The Weinstein Company, as she was invited by her friends and PR team, who would encourage her to attend major industry events. I explained to the jury that she was posting herself on her private accounts, but that her PR manager was regularly posting on her public account without her knowledge, which was on par with the course.
Jackson raised the question of why there were no medical records to confirm whether sexual assault had occurred. Jane Doe #1 said that when she returned to Italy after the alleged 2013 incident, she visited the doctor twice for STI tests. Jackson wondered why she didn’t get any documents from those medical visits.
Jackson also wondered why there was no evidence that could confirm whether she had been assaulted, such as DNA samples, semen samples, a rape kit or photos. It was suggested that Jane Doe No. 1 was not even with Weinstein that night, as she claimed he left a jacket in her hotel room, but the hotel had no account of that item in lost and found items.
“Do you have any physical items to confirm that you were ever with my client?” Asked. “Is there a single witness who can prove if you are in the same room in the same hotel?” He asked her if she had bruises or marks on her body. She said no. “Do you think someone after a rape is taking a video of themselves?” responded.
Jane Doe #1 had trouble determining the exact time frame of the alleged assault, which Jackson repeatedly asked her through his cross-examination. She said she returned to her hotel sometime after midnight and that Weinstein suddenly showed up knocking on her door about 20 minutes later. She told the prosecutor that the night of the assault seemed like the longest night of her life, but she had no clear sense of time.
I asked Jackson if she remembered hearing the hotel fire alarm, seeming confused. He said the fire alarm rang so loud for four minutes in the hotel that he found it hard to believe she wouldn’t hear it. She said she never left her room and did not remember hearing any fire alarm. Jackson then suggested that the whole incident would never have happened, urging her in a cartoonish tone: “You don’t remember the fire alarm because you weren’t in your room, right?”
When asked about the timing of her police report (Jane Doe No. 1 reported the assault in October 2017, nearly four and a half years after the alleged incident), Jackson was eager to be asked about her awareness of Weinstein’s public downfall.
“After the #MeToo movement, is this the time I reported?” Asked. The #MeToo movement targeted Mr. Weinstein. Are you aware of that?”
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