Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today, in light of the steps toward a second trial for the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, we’ll look at what the experience of testifying in sexual assault trials is like for witnesses.
On Wednesday, Harvey Weinstein was back in court. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has begun the process of retrying his sex crimes case after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction last month.
Mr. Weinstein was wheeled into criminal court on Wednesday dressed in a dark suit and a white shirt and holding a large book under his arm.
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and prosecutors in his office have stated several times that they believe they have a strong case in the retrial of Mr. Weinstein.
“We look forward to having a new day in court and the Court of Appeals decision not being the last word or chapter on this,” Mr. Bragg said this month.
The initial criminal indictment in New York charged Mr. Weinstein with sexually assaulting two women. Three other women also testified that he had assaulted them, even though their allegations had not led to charges.
Last month, the New York Court of Appeals agreed with Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers that the trial judge who presided over his 2020 case had erred by allowing prosecutors to call those additional witnesses in an effort to show Mr. Weinstein’s prior “bad acts.”
Now, unless new accusers with viable cases come forward — which prosecutors signaled on Wednesday is a possibility — prosecutors would have to rely on the testimony of one or both of the women Mr. Weinstein was initially convicted of assaulting.
Testifying in a criminal trial is often grueling for witnesses. Doing it twice “is an even greater leap of faith,” said Liz Roberts, chief executive officer of Safe Horizons, the city’s largest domestic violence shelter provider and a nonprofit organization that places domestic violence counselors in the city’s police stations.
I spoke with Ms. Roberts about the experience of witnesses who take the stand in sexual assault cases and what it can be like to be asked to testify twice.
What is it like for witnesses who are testifying in a sexual assault trial?
Roberts: I think there’s no way to overstate the impact on the survivor of sexual assault of testifying in court.
Typically, there are weeks or months of anxiety leading up to the testimony. And then actually facing the person that caused them harm and telling a story that is very deeply painful and ugly and graphic in front of a group of strangers, as well as the person that harmed you, is extremely difficult. It can be excruciating.
When I’ve known people, whether they were clients or friends who have gone through that process — there are weeks of sleepless nights. Any delay or adjustment to the schedule causes more anxiety and uncertainty. It takes a tremendous amount of energy. It’s like it takes over your life for a period of time.
What is the preparation like for witnesses?
Roberts: They have to go through every ugly detail of the assaults.
Part of the prosecutor’s job is to be really well prepared for things that the defense might bring up, and so they have to explore many other aspects of the person’s life.
And if their relationship with the person who harms them is sometimes complicated, we just know that’s part of how trauma and sexual violence works. So it’s a lot of a very vulnerable and exhausting process just to prepare, not to mention being on the stand.
How difficult can it be to testify twice?
Roberts: I know every survivor’s experience will be different and that sometimes testifying can feel really empowering. But when I put myself in those shoes, it seems to me like it would be so much more difficult the second time.
Because the first time through, you’re coming into it with hope and belief that there’s going to be accountability — there’s going to be some kind of justice. And once a conviction has been thrown out, and you’re asked to go through the process again, it’s an even greater leap of faith because you’ve already been told the court decided that what you shared wasn’t valid, that it wasn’t sufficient.
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METROPOLITAN diary
Locked in
Dear Diary:
A locksmith’s van was double-parked on West 102nd Street. It was blocking a large truck from getting by. Within minutes, cars were lined up behind the truck, horns honking in vain to summon the van’s driver.
As I walked by, I noticed a sheet of paper on the van’s dashboard that identified the building where the locksmith was working and included a cellphone number.
I called the number and told the locksmith his van was blocking traffic. He said he would be right out.
I then walked over to the truck.
“All you had to do,” I told the driver, “was get out of your truck and check the front of the van to find out where the locksmith was.”
The driver shrugged and smiled.
“I get paid by the hour,” he said.
— Joel Mandelbaum
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. Maia Coleman will be here tomorrow. — H.M.
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Melissa Guerrero and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
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The post The Trauma of Testifying in a Sexual Assault Trial appeared first on New York Times.