It’s winding down to the end of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault case, and this week, the prosecution made its final argument against the accused rapist: “He took away her peace.”
On Friday morning, Joan Illuzzi, the lead prosecutor in the case, called Weinstein an “abusive rapist” who took advantage of women who were pursuing an acting career, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Illuzzi said Weinstein saw himself as a “the master of his universe, and the witnesses here were really ants whom he could step on without consequences.”
Illuzzi claims that Weinstein would keep in touch with his alleged victims through email and text “as a little check” to make sure they wouldn’t accuse him of any misconduct. Jessica Mann and Miriam Haley are the primary witnesses in the case, and the defense questioned why the two women continued to send what they deemed “loving” emails to the former movie exec. However, Illuzzi continued to defend the six alleged victims. “They didn’t come for money,” she said. “They didn’t come for fame. They came to be heard. They sacrificed their dignity, their privacy, and their peace.”
Using “Sopranos” actress #AnnabellaSciorra as an example, Illuzzi explained the actress was living a successful and happy life before Weinstein came into her life. Sciorra testified that Weinstein raped her back in 1993. “Her life was good, really good. And the defendant took away that happiness. He took away her peace.”
Weinstein’s lead defense attorney, Donna Rotunno, said in her closing statement on Thursday that prosecution has “weaved a story” over the last few weeks to portray Weinstein as a monster. “The district attorney has failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. On behalf of Mr. Weinstein, we are imploring you to have the courage to tell them that by saying ‘not guilty.’”
The jury will begin its deliberation on Tuesday. Weinstein was charged by New York prosecutors with “rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women.”
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