The prosecution has rested in the Harvey Weinstein rape and sexual assault trial. Over the past two weeks, six women have given graphic testimony about Weinstein's alleged sex attacks and advances. As we’ve been telling you, Weinstein is facing five charges involving three women, but says all of the sex was consensual. Not so, said the final prosecution witness, Lauren Young.
Then 23, she says she was lured to a hotel suite where she was locked in a bathroom by Weinstein’s friend, Claudia Salinas.
Young claims he groped her while pleasuring himself noting, “This is how all actresses make it.” Young also corroborated prior testimony that Weinstein had “deformed” private parts.
As for Salinas, Young said she was also devastated when she realized this wasn’t such a ‘random’ act. "The girl that invited me closed the door, she left me there,” Young offered. “That’s when I realized, 'this was set up, she put me in here’.”
When asked why she didn’t call police, Young tearfully replied that she was, "Traumatized. Terrified. Paranoid.” adding that she didn’t call the police, because “He has power and I was scared.”
In the afternoon, it was the defense team’s turn, and they asked the judge to throw out all the charges against Weinstein, but the judge declined. Then it was onto their witnesses – and their first, was a qualified bust. Paul Feldsher, a former Miramax consultant, was presented to answer the testimony of Anabella Sciorra. He first testified that Sciorra had intimated that her encounter with Weinstein was consensual.
But then, Feldsher was presented with a series of texts exchanged between him and Weinstein since the Fall of 2018. Among other things, he referred to Sciorra with a derogatory name and referred to Weinstein’s accusers as a “dog pile of actresses.” In another, Feldsher told Weinstein, quote “If a lot of these girls had been my daughter, I’d want to beat the s–t out of you.” Weinstein’s case continues today, he faces life in prison if convicted.
Source: USA Today
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