Harvey Weinstein’s trial will resume Tuesday in Manhattan with the cross-examination of his latest accuser, who has said he first sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager newly arrived in New York City.
The woman, Kaja Sokola, told jurors last week that she had come to New York as a 16-year-old model who had landed a contract. Mr. Weinstein, at the time a 50-year-old producer, invited her to lunch to talk about her aspirations in movies, she recalled. Instead, he took her to his SoHo apartment, where he forced her to masturbate him in a bathroom as he touched her.
The incident, which she said was the first of several assaults in the early 2000s, is too old to be the subject of criminal charges. But Ms. Sokola testified that four years later, she was in New York for work and attended a midday meeting with Mr. Weinstein, accompanied by her older sister. He then brought her to a hotel room and forced her to have oral sex, she told the jury.
Mr. Weinstein’s retrial began four weeks ago after an appeals court overturned a previous conviction. He faces two counts of criminal sexual act in the first degree and one count of third-degree rape.
As the trial enters its second month, here is what happened so far and what to expect.
Arguments over free will
In opening statements, prosecutors and Mr. Weinstein’s defense painted very different pictures of the one-time Hollywood mogul.
Prosecutors said that throughout his decades-long career, with a reputation as a star-maker in independent movies, Mr. Weinstein used his unfettered power in the industry to exert “enormous control” over those around him. He used that power to sexually assault the three women at the center of the case, Shannon Lucey, an assistant district attorney, said.
Mr. Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur L. Aidala gave a different account of the interactions among his client and the three accusers. The women entered consensual relationships because Mr. Weinstein had the key to the doors of fame, Mr. Aidala said.
Mr. Weinstein acted on his attractions but did not force any of the women into sex, Mr. Aidala said. “The casting couch is not a crime scene,” he said.
Harrowing stories
Prosecutors have charged Mr. Weinstein with sexually assaulting three women: Ms. Sokola; Miriam Haley, a former television production assistant who said he assaulted her in 2006; and Jessica Mann, an aspiring actress who said Mr. Weinstein raped her in 2013.
Ms. Sokola and Ms. Haley have told the jurors how they met Mr. Weinstein as they were looking for opportunities in the film industry. After Mr. Weinstein sexually assaulted them, they testified, they maintained communication, feeling that he was too powerful to oppose.
Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers have resisted the idea that the women feared their client. Both women wanted to benefit professionally from their relationships with the producer and kept in touch for years because the sex was consensual, they argued.
The lawyers pointed out the sums the women have received in settlements against Mr. Weinstein and his companies: Ms. Sokola has received about $3.5 million, while Ms. Haley had gotten about $475,000 from a settlement fund established in the bankruptcy of Mr. Weinstein’s company.
What to expect in the fifth week
Ms. Sokola’s cross-examination will continue.
On Friday, one of Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers, Michael Cibella, began delving into Ms. Sokola’s private life, her struggles with alcohol, anorexia and bulimia and her time in treatment. He also asked questions about her application for asylum in the United States after she fled Poland with her son to escape an ex-husband who she has said abused her.
Ms. Mann is expected to take the stand in the next couple of weeks. She testified in the first trial and has said that Mr. Weinstein trapped her in a New York hotel room in March 2013, where he ordered her to undress, menaced her and then raped her.
Prosecutors are expected to call more witnesses to support the three women’s testimony, as well as experts who will testify about why victims of rape and sexual assault sometimes maintain contact with assailants and might not tell law enforcement.
The defense has yet to begin presenting its case to jurors.
Hurubie Meko is a Times reporter covering criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state courts.
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