Rape trial lawyer Harvey Weinstein mocks Jennifer Siebel Newsom for ‘Theatrical, over-dramatized presentation’ in closing arguments; The case goes before the jury tomorrow

“Remorse is not the same as rape, and it’s important that we make that distinction in this courtroom,” Harvey Weinstein’s attorney, Alan Jackson, said Thursday of Jennifer Siebel Newsom during his closing arguments in Weinstein’s much-discussed Los Angeles trial.

Jackson called Weinstein’s alleged assault on Newsom in 2005 at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills “consensual, transactional sex” between an aspiring filmmaker-actress and a high-profile producer and mocked Newsom, aka Jane Doe #4, in the language that seemed willing to accept any idea alienated. Empathizing and saying, “Jane Doe #4 cannot imagine being a successful, educated, well-mannered, sophisticated woman who had consensual sex with Harvey Weinstein in exchange for opportunity and access.”

First revelation of a long-ago meeting with Weinstein, just days after New York Times Newsom, who first married then-San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom in 2008, dropped her detailed account of the Oscar-winning actress in late 2017, always claiming she was assaulted against her will by the producer 17 years ago is.

“I could tell he just needed it, he was so determined, just so scary, it was all about him and his pleasure, his need for satisfaction, so I just did it to make it stop,” she said. in one emotional testimony said November 14.

Towards the end of Jackson’s incisive closing argument today, this potentially crucial statement was repeatedly dropped by the lawyer to cast doubt on his client at the LA criminal trial. Because Weinstein did not take the stand, Newsom’s testimony was viewed by both prosecutors and the defense as one of the most important, if not the most important, of the trial, sources say.

With that in mind, Jackson took a scorched-earth approach today.

“It was a theatrical, over-dramatized performance,” Attorney-Judge Lisa Lench told the jury this afternoon in his final pitch about the often poignant testimony of California’s now first partner last month. “What you saw was a spectacle. Pretty good deed, but it had no basis in truth,” Jackson added in a heated submission that gave no credit to the accusers or the four alleged Jane Does who took the stand over the past five weeks.

Elaborating on Newsom’s two days on the stand, Jackson told the courtroom in his closing remarks: “It was almost like it came to a point, it was almost like it was rehearsed. Just because she cried the loudest or screamed the loudest doesn’t change the facts.”

Facing a maximum sentence of 60 years plus five if convicted, Weinstein was charged with two counts of rape and five counts of assault in LA County incidents from 2004 to 2013. Originally convicted and sentenced in New York City, the 70 -year-old producer is dealing with 11 charges of sexual assault filed by Los Angeles prosecutors shortly after his extradition to the City of Angels in the summer of 2021, Jane Doe # 5 suddenly of the case.

Weinstein was previously sentenced by a Manhattan jury in March 2020 to 23 years in prison for multiple sex crimes. That case is currently on appeal — as likely will be in the LA case once the defendant is found guilty with a deep pocket and properly bound over.

As his client, who was already in prison, looked on, Jackson wrecked the case with several lawsuits filed by the LA County Attorney’s Office against former mogul Weinstein. “If you examine every single claim made by Jane Does, which is your work, it’s clear that people have not provided any evidence … beyond a reasonable doubt,” says Werksman’s partner, Jackson & Quinn LLP.

Prosecutors called a total of eight witnesses to testify about Weinstein’s sexual abuse. Four of these witnesses were the Jane Does, and four were so-called early witnesses of evil deeds. As in the NYC trial, the latter’s presence and testimony were intended to demonstrate a pattern and method used by Weinstein.

In the absence of physical evidence and with alleged victims coming forward more than a decade after the events in question, Jackson summed up the prosecution’s case as “nothing” and not much more. “Nothing but five words. Take my word for it,” he said of the accusers and the alleged victims, who have all testified since the trial began in late October. “Believe me it ever happened or believe me I didn’t agree to it. The truth is unchanging. It’s not a feeling It’s not a whim. It’s not a hashtag.”

Assistant District Attorney Marlene Martinez concluded her closing arguments today, asking the jury to end Weinstein’s “reign of terror.” Jackson began his closing arguments in the morning and ended around 4:30 a.m. Thursday. A final rebuttal by prosecutors will come Friday morning, after which the case will move to the jury for deliberation.