Three Witnesses Corroborate Victims Accounts
Three witnesses corroborate victims accounts at court today.
First the court heard from Lincoln Davies, who was Dawn Dunning’s boyfriend in 2004. Dawn gave evidence yesterday that Weinstein put his hand up her skirt and in her underwear. Dawn told the court that he later offered her movie roles in exchange for having a threesome with him and his assistant.
Lincoln Davies testified that he recalled Dawn was upset after returning from the second meeting with Weinstein.
“She was pretty shocked, upset, angry, kind of appalled,” he said.
Next the court heard from Maurizio Ferrigno. Maurizio was the manager at Cipriani Upstairs in 2005, when Tarale Wulff worked there as a waitress. He said that he saw Tarale being led up the stairs by Harvey Weinstein.
Monika Mikkelsen was the third witness. She was the casting director on the 2006 film “Pulse,” which was produced by Bob Weinstein’s company, Dimension Films. Tarale testified on Wednesday that she was enticed to go to Weinstein’s office by the opportunity to audition for the part of Isabelle in the film.
Mikkelsen testified that Harvey Weinstein had nothing to do with casting on the film. In fact, she told the court that Christina Milian was offered the role of Isabelle a year before Tarale's meeting. This further underlined the prosecution's point that there was no audition and it was merely a ruse Weinstein was using to get Tarale to go to his apartment.
Dev Sen, a corporate attorney from Boies Schiller, gave brief testimony today, and confirmed that the firm had hired Black Cube at Weinstein’s behest.
There was much legal argument beforehand. Damon Cheronis, Weinstein's lawyer, objected to a contract between Black Cube and Boies Schiller being entered into evidence by the prosecution. He cited attorney-client privilege and questioning what he said was a lack of relevance to the main criminal charges.
Joan Illuzzi, on behalf of the prosecution, countered that an email from Black Cube to Boies Schiller indicated a “red flag” next to Annabella Sciorra's name.
Judge Burke dismissed the jury at lunchtime ahead of the unnamed victim's evidence on Friday.
My Two Cents: The first disclosure is always key, and, today the court heard three more witness corroborate the victims accounts and provide damning evidence that support the victim's testimony that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted them.
Another significant day for the prosecution as the defence suspected it would be, which is exactly why they vociferously argued that these witnesses should not be called. The prosecution stated that the witnesses were relevant as the defence were suggesting that the women were making it up. Furthermore, Monika's evidence highlighted that Weinstein used casting as a ruse to lure women to his den on false pretences.
It took a lot for the victims to come forward and give evidence in court and, it begs the question, how many more victim's are out there who have never come forward?
The case continues.