In a three-day testimony, Jane Doe No. 1 took the stand against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. On Monday, Weinstein’s attorney’s called their first three witnesses, who testified on details regarding Jane Doe No. 1’s allegations that Weinstein raped her and forced her to perform oral sex.
She alleged that the assault took place in February 2013 during a business trip in Los Angeles while she was attending the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival, Variety reports. Jane Doe No.1 claimed that the alleged assault took place at her hotel, Mr. C Beverly Hills, and that Weinstein showed up at night, forcing his way into her hotel room. “He just walked in,” she told the jury. “I didn’t understand what was going on … I remember thinking, ‘Did he follow me?’ I don’t know him.” She claimed that after she asked him to leave, she froze and was scared Weinstein was going to kill her. “I was panicking and started crying … He didn’t care,” she said. “I wanted to die. It was disgusting. It was humiliating.”
Weinstein’s attorney, Alan Jackson, questioned Jane Doe No. 1 during a cross examination and asked her why she stayed in the same hotel after the alleged sexual assault. “You stayed in the very room where you say you were attacked and victimized?” Jackson asked, according to Variety. The former general manager who worked at the hotel at the time of the alleged assault was called to the stand and confirmed that Jane Doe No. 1 stayed at Mr. C’s weeks after the alleged rape.
A firefighter from the Los Angeles Fire Department also testified, who confirmed that a fire alarm went off at the hotel and that the LAFD was dispatched on Feb. 18, 2013 around 12:45 a.m., near the time of the alleged assault.
When Jackson asked if she remembered hearing a loud alarm on the night of the alleged attack, she said she did not recall hearing a fire alarm that night, LA Times reports. Weinstein’s attorney repeatedly brought up the fire alarm. “You didn’t hear the fire alarm because you weren’t in your room at 12:41 a.m.,” Jackson said to Jane Doe No. 1.
The defense also called Beverly Hills PD Detective Stephanie Frias, who interviewed Jane Doe No. 1’s daughter when she reported her own assault in 2017. Jackson asked Frias if Jane Doe No. 1, who was with her daughter at the police station, said anything about being a victim of sexual assault. The detective said, “According to my report, no.”
In response, Prosecutor Paul Thompson asked the witness, “Jane Doe No. 1 was focused on the situation with her daughter?” to which Frias said, “Correct.”
Jane Doe No. 1’s daughter, Maria, testified to corroborate details of her mother’s story earlier this month. After her own alleged assault, she said Jane Doe No. 1 “had the courage to speak out only because my mom promised me.”
Weinstein, now serving 23 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of victims in Manhattan, faces seven charges in the L.A. trial including five counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker married to Gov. Gavin Newsom, testified against Weinstein in mid-Nov. Known as Jane Doe #4 in the case, she alleged she was raped by the media mogul in 2005. Like the other women in the trial Weinstein is charged with raping or sexually assaulting, Siebel Newsom’s name is not being spoken in court.
Harvey Weinstein will not testify in his own defense at his Los Angeles rape trial, a strategy used in his New York trial. If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 60 years.
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