Ex-model testifying that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her questioned about private journal

[ad_1] NEW YORK (AP) — A former teen style mannequin testifying in Harvey Weinstein ’s retrial on sexual assault prices was confronted on the stand Tuesday with a non-public journal the place protection attorneys say she wrote about individuals who sexually abused her.

As considered one of Weinstein’s attorneys started to query her concerning the handwritten journal, Kaja Sokola protested that it shouldn’t be mentioned in open courtroom as she’d written it as a part of a substance abuse remedy program years in the past.

“That is very inappropriate,” she pleaded because the legal professional started to quote parts of the textual content, which they are saying was initially written in Polish in 2015. “Please don’t learn that. That is my private issues. I’m not on trial right here.”

Decide Curtis Farber dismissed the jury for a lunch break as Sokola started to get emotional.

He assured her later that he would permit the jury to listen to restricted questioning across the doc. The decide additionally stated he had issues concerning the journal’s completeness and authenticity, questioning how protection attorneys had obtained what seems to be personal medical information.

“This would possibly backfire tremendously” for the protection, Farber stated at one level, as prosecutors additionally strongly opposed inclusion of the journal as proof within the trial. “That’s the danger they’re keen to take.”

Sokola, who's now a 39-year-old psychotherapist, continued to push again. Her testimony was anticipated to renew Tuesday afternoon after a lunch break.

“That is unethical,” she insisted to the decide. “I'd by no means do that to my affected person, and I'd by no means do that to myself.”

Michael Cibella, considered one of Weinstein’s attorneys, instructed Farber that the protection crew intends to query Sokola on part of the journal the place she describes a minimum of 5 sexual assaults she’s suffered over her life.

Weinstein, they are saying, isn't amongst these she named, although he does seem elsewhere within the journal. They are saying she references her frustration and disappointment after a “Harvey W” had led her alongside, “promising me assist” however “nothing got here out of it.”

Sokola testified final week that Weinstein exploited her goals of an performing profession to topic her to undesirable sexual advances, beginning days after they met in 2002, whereas she was a 16-year-old on a modeling journey to New York.

A few of these allegations are past the authorized time restrict for legal prices, however Weinstein faces a legal intercourse act cost over Sokola’s declare that he pressured oral intercourse on her in 2006.

Prosecutors added the cost to the landmark #MeToo case final yr, after an appeals courtroom overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction. The responsible verdict pertained to allegations from two different girls, who even have testified or are anticipated to testify on the retrial.

Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not responsible and denies ever sexually assaulting anybody.

His attorneys, of their cross-examination of Sokola that started Friday, have sought to boost doubts about her allegations, portraying her as a wannabe actor who tried to leverage her consensual relations with the previous studio boss.

The Related Press usually doesn't title individuals who allege they've been sexually assaulted, however Sokola has given her permission to be recognized.