Friday, October 12, 2018

The case against Harvey Weinstein is falling apart

The sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein is in danger of crumbling after Manhattan prosecutors found an accuser’s written account of her encounter with the movie mogul that suggests it was consensual, multiple sources told The Post.

Lucia Evans has accused Weinstein of forcing her to perform oral sex on him inside his Tribeca office in 2004, when she was a 21-year-old college student and aspiring actress. She is one of three women whose allegations of sexual assault are being prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office.

But a prior employer of Evans turned over the personal writings she’d left on the company computer, which appear to contradict her grand jury testimony, a law enforcement source said.

“The writings indicate it was consensual, friendly,” a source told The Post. “It has caused a split [in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office], some believe the charges should be dropped and that there’s a problem [with this complainant].”

Manhattan prosecutors ultimately decided not to drop Evans from the case despite some internal opposition.

The latest revelation comes after another damaging report, that the NYPD’s lead investigator on the case failed to turn over statements from a casting director who said Evans told him she had performed the sex act to score an acting gig.

Another source said, “The casting witness is a problem, but that is still ‘he said, she said.’ It’s harder to explain away her own words.”

The DA’s office declined to comment for this article.

This Thursday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke is expected to rule on whether to dismiss count six of the indictment that relates to Evans, sources said.

He’ll also decide whether to lift the protective order, which allowed prosecutors to file the damning disclosures under seal.

Weinstein’s defense lawyer, Ben Brafman, has lobbied the judge to make them public, sources said.

The former Miramax boss faces up to life in prison on charges of rape, predatory sex assault and criminal sex acts for the alleged attack on Evans and two other women.

In court papers, Brafman previously argued that the case against the “Shakespeare in Love” producer should be dismissed because prosecutors hid the fact that he had a “long-term, consensual” relationship with one of the accusers.

Weinstein and the woman, whose name has not been released, exchanged 400 emails during the “weeks and years after the alleged rape,” the papers state.

In a February 2017 email sent nearly four years after the alleged sex attack, she wrote, “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call. :)”

Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon countered in court papers that none of the emails show the accuser denying that she was raped and insisted the presentation to the grand jury was fair and complete.

The third complainant, production assistant Mimi Haleyi, alleges that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 inside his SoHo home.

“My client has sacrificed everything for her day in court to hold Harvey Weinstein responsible for sexual assault,” said Evans’ lawyer Carrie Goldberg. “Getting to the truth is the very purpose of trials. And we have utmost confidence that her testimony and supporting evidence will prove his guilt.”


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