He invoked the Constitution when he requested a sequestered trial.

Sciorra testified that she did not initially realize that it was a Miramax film, and she did not remember him being on set. If the jury finds that the incident involving Mann is a third-degree charge, though, that cannot be escalated into predatory sexual assault because the predatory charge requires two first-degree sexual crimes. I spent a lot of time alone,” she said. Annabella Sciorra had been on the witness stand for close to two hours on Thursday when Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer Donna Rotunno attacked her credibility by invoking her career. "I thought he was going to hit me right there," Sciorra said. Read Next: Executives From Verizon Media, Sony Innovation Studios, Twitch and Western Digital Participate in ‘Innovators in Media Technology Management’ Panel Oct. 22, defense attorney Donna Rotunno challenged that version of events, ‘Dexter’ Limited Series Revival Ordered at Showtime, ‘Simpsons’ Lists 50 Reasons Why Re-Electing Trump Is Terrifying in Exclusive ‘Treehouse of Horror’ Clip, Ellen DeGeneres Seeks $40 Million for Bali-Esque Montecito Compound, Pedro Pascal on Fame and ‘The Mandalorian’: ‘Can We Cut the S— and Talk About the Child?’, Eddie Murphy’s ‘Coming 2 America’ Moves From Paramount to Amazon Studios, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’: Amy Adams, Glenn Close Star in First Trailer for Ron Howard’s Oscars Contender, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Timothee Chalamet Join Star-Studded Cast of Adam McKay’s ‘Don’t Look Up’, Conchata Ferrell, ‘Two and a Half Men’ Star, Dies at 77, Kim Kardashian West Donates $1 Million to Armenia Fund Amid Ongoing Conflict With Azerbaijan, Every Member of Margot Robbie and Christina Hodson’s All-Women Screenwriting Lab Has Sold a Feature Film, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Timothee Chalamet Join Adam McKay’s ‘Don’t Look Up’, Inside Clare Crawley's Unprecedented 'Bachelorette' Season, Joe Rogan Lists Fully Customized Bell Canyon Estate, ‘Sylvie’s Love’ Trailer: Sparks Fly Between Jazz Lovers Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha.

He began unbuttoning his shirt, she testified, and then grabbed her arm and dragged her into a bedroom.

Rotunno’s cross-examination of Sciorra included inquiries about losing weight for roles and Hollywood’s “three major agencies.” (Sciorra’s weight came up when she described falling into depression post-rape. ", Actress Annabella Sciorra arrives as a witness in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial, in New York, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story. Illuzzi also queried Sciorra about whether she had any romantic relationship with Weinstein ever in her life. Sciorra told the jury that a few weeks after the incident, she was in a restaurant where she saw Weinstein. But the rhetorical method was itself duplicitous: a superficially benign statement of fact made combative by its context.

As Weinstein did this he said, "This is for you," she testified. Following Weinstein’s alleged rape, according to Sciorra, she began to drink heavily and cut herself. The verdict form in Weinstein's trial included a complex mix of either/or charges, witnesses who are not directly part of charges and legal terms with specific definitions.

I didn’t even know what was happening.

She said wherever she smeared the blood she would mark it with gold leaf. (Photo/Bebeto Matthews). I said ‘no, no’ but there was not much I could do at that point. “I know that I woke up. The essence is that Weinstein is primarily charged with alleged sexual attacks against Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann. Rotunno also questioned various decisions Sciorra said that she made that night. In the messages, Sciorra said she was "more broke than (she) ever imagined" and said, "I'm hoping Harvey has a job for me.".

Sciorra said that following their initial meeting, she approached Weinstein about the script for “The Night We Never Met,” a rom-com in which she co-starred with Matthew Broderick.

Asked if she was familiar with Weinstein at that point, she said, “No, I had never heard of him.” Sciorra joined Weinstein in a car ride home to Malibu from the party, during which Weinstein handed her his business card and said that if she came across any scripts, she could reach out.

“No,” Sciorra said. For one, she questioned Sciorra about when she moved out of the apartment that she lived in prior to her move to the Gramercy Park apartment. The text of the charges rely on three key legal ideas: forcible compulsion, intent and consent.

At the beginning of her testimony, Sciorra talked about her background growing up in Brooklyn.

But I wouldn’t call it theatrical. Harvey Weinstein leaves a Manhattan courthouse after a second day of jury selection for his trial on rape and sexual assault charges, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, in New York. What I noticed was how vastly different Annabella Sciorra the Actress is from Annabella Sciorra the Witness. “So I’m glad that they decided to speak out, because there are also others who were then encouraged to do so.” Allred represents Haleyi and Sciorra.

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or redistributed.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Weinstein’s criminal trial began Jan. 6 at the state Supreme Court in Manhattan. Prosecutors argued that Weinstein used "forcible compulsion" in attacking the women, while his defense argued that the women consented to the sexual interactions. "The Sopranos" actress said the movie mogul raped and sexually assaulted her at her Manhattan apartment in the winter of 1993-1994. When she ran into him about a month later and confronted him about what had happened, he parried, “That’s what all the nice Catholic girls say," she testified. When Sciorra replied it's "not correct" that she could not remember the month or year she was allegedly assaulted by Weinstein, Rotunno pressed, "You think it's some time in the fall and winter months of 1993 or 1994. Hear from WHO's chief scientist, Blitzer presses Pelosi on why she hasn't taken Trump stimulus deal, Early voters face long lines and equipment malfunctions, Watch Amy Coney Barrett's answers on key legal issues, Church could make teen 'genius' first millennial saint, How Biden's lead over Trump differs from Clinton's in 2016, Pennsylvania second lady reacts to getting called racial slur, Key moments from contentious McConnell, McGrath debate, Senator repeatedly presses Amy Coney Barrett on Roe v. Wade, White House chief of staff refuses to wear a mask with reporters, Camera captures moment Nobel Prize winner learns he won, These European countries are seeing record rises in Covid-19 cases, Dr. Fauci reacts to Trump ad: This is disappointing, More than half of US states report increase in Covid-19 cases, Harvey Weinstein's attorney on his defense, Harvey Weinstein is 'not a harmless old man,' prosecutors say in opening statements, Sciorra is best known for her Emmy-nominated, These are the women who plan to testify against Harvey Weinstein.
But the defense team has its own kind of theatrics. Called as a witness for Weinstein’s rape trial in New York, the actor — at times visibly very upset and crying — recalled the incident shortly after she appeared in Miramax’s “The Night We Never Met,” released in 1993. "The truth will out" #MeTooTooManyTimes. Annabella Sciorra said in court testimony on Thursday that Harvey Weinstein raped her more than two decades ago.

Then, she said, he leaned toward her and said menacingly: “This remains between you and I.”. Sciorra did not go to authorities because she feared reprisal from Weinstein, prosecutors said.

Weinstein’s work to silence and discredit his accusers has also been part of this trial: After Perez’s testimony, a private investigator discussed a list Weinstein kept of people he feared would speak out publicly.


Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines for Jan. 22 are here. Still, her testimony is key to whether Weinstein could spend the rest of his life behind bars for predatory sexual assault.

All rights reserved. Thirty years later, on the witness stand, she seemed exhausted. Weinstein's attorney Damon Cheronis attacked the credibility of the women's stories during his opening statements and picked apart their timelines. That touched off several years of Weinstein tormenting Sciorra, prosecutor Meghan Hast told jurors Wednesday, culminating in an incident at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 in which he arrived at her hotel door in his underwear, with a bottle of baby oil in hand. Sciorra raised her hands above her head and clasped her wrists, facing the jury. "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra took the stand Thursday in the rape trial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

All rights reserved. After Sciorra and the jury were dismissed for the day, the prosecution asked the judge to allow actress Rosie Perez to testify. “Suddenly I felt a hand on my back, and as I turned around, it was the defendant and he immediately took his hand off and went away,” Sciorra said. The first days of testimony at Weinstein’s trial were sometimes focused on show business, to an extent that was, at times, bizarre.

Rotunno reviewed Instagram communications from August 2017 in which an acting acquaintance asked for Sciorra's phone number because he said Weinstein wanted it. That means Sciorra's allegation does not stand as a crime on its own. A guilty verdict could put the 67-year-old disgraced movie mogul in prison for the rest of his life.

Journalists start lining up outside the courthouse before dawn to claim the limited seats reserved for members of the press at the Weinstein trial. She said she was wearing a nightgown and did not have underwear on, since prior to his unexpected arrival, she had gotten ready to go to bed in the comfort of her own home.

He is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on former “Project Runway” production assistant Mimi Haleyi in his apartment in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013. Why Harvey Weinstein Can’t Put Away His Phone. But she is one of four other accusers who prosecutors plan to call as witnesses in an attempt to prove Weinstein had a pattern of assaulting women. CNN's Aaron Cooper and Lauren del Valle contributed to this report.

Rotunno ended Sciorra’s cross-examination by playing video of the actress appearing on David Letterman’s TV show in 1997.