Defense Rests, Without Calling Weinstein

By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 11, 2020 11:25 AM CST
Jurors Won't Hear From Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein arrives for his rape trial Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Onto closing arguments. The defense rested in the Harvey Weinstein trial Tuesday without calling Weinstein himself to testify, reports USA Today. The decision wasn't a big surprise, with the AP noting that defendants in other high-profile rape cases such as Bill Cosby and Jerry Sandusky also skipped testifying. On Tuesday, the defense questioned the former agent of one of Weinstein's accusers, who said he saw nothing amiss between Weinstein and his former client, Jessica Mann, when they were together at a New York hotel in 2013. Mann accuses Weinstein of raping her at the hotel, and their breakfast with Thomas Richards immediately followed that alleged assault, per Reuters.

"Was there any indication that Jessica was at all upset or distressed?" a defense attorney asked Richards. "No," Richards said, describing the interaction between the other two as "friendly." His testimony came a day after a different defense witness disputed another woman's account of the events leading up to an alleged sexual assault. After Monday's testimony, one of Weinstein's attorneys pronounced it a "great day for the defense." The AP observes that Weinstein himself has seemed "increasingly upbeat" entering and leaving court, though he typically sits quietly at the defense table during the proceedings. (More Harvey Weinstein stories.)

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