Via The Wrap:
Prosecutors in Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial rested their case on Thursday after calling six of the former mogul’s female accusers to the stand. Their accusations, taken together, have illuminated patterns: the late-night meetings at hotel bars that moved into hotel suites, the promises of auditions or roles in Weinstein productions in exchange for sexual favors and the physical violence of restraining the arms of protesting women. And then the persistent fears of retaliation, the attempts to pretend the alleged incidents never happened and the emotional tolls of trauma, shame and self-blame.
These women’s stories have completed a graphic and striking portrait of the former mogul’s decades-long treatment of women seeking entry or respect within the entertainment industry — one that Weinstein and his attorneys have disputed. But the ultimate determination of Weinstein’s fate will be up to the 12-person jury, a group of seven men and five women who will deliberate on whether Weinstein’s sexual encounters with two of the accusers — Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann — were nonconsensual beyond a reasonable doubt.