Harvey Weinstein's Abnormal Testicles Are Key Focus of Final Arguments in Trial

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Harvey Weinstein’s genitalia has frequently been addressed in open court
throughout his trial. But in the final hours of the case, the former movie
mogul’s abnormal testicles emerged as a key piece of evidence on which the
jury will have to deliberate when they determine whether he is guilty of
rape and sexual assault.

During the trial, prosecutors revealed to the jury that Weinstein
underwent surgery in 1999 for Fournier’s Gangrene, which required doctors
to remove some of his scrotum. “That surgery caused pretty noticeable
scarring … Because of an infection, his testicles were actually taken from
his scrotum and put into his inner thighs,” the lead prosecutor, Deputy
District Attorney Paul Thompson, told the jury at the beginning of the
trial.

Numerous women accusing Weinstein of rape and sexual assault have
testified about his genitalia during the lengthy trial. In October, the
jury was shown photos of Weinstein’s private parts, and sifted through an
envelope of images in a private room in the courthouse. Members of the
public and the media were not given access to view the photos.

Now, as deliberations have begun, the verdict on three charges, all
pertaining to Jane Doe #1, will largely rely on Weinstein’s genitalia.
(Weinstein faces seven charges in total.)

Jane Doe #1, a European actor and model, has accused Weinstein of rape and
sexual assault. She alleges the incident occurred in 2013 at Mr. C Beverly
Hills Hotel, where she was staying when she attended the L.A. Italia Film
Festival as a VIP guest.

The defense has said that the rape and sexual assault never happened,
claiming that she was never in a hotel room with Weinstein on the night of
the alleged incident.

On Friday, the biggest focus of the prosecution’s final rebuttal was Jane
Doe #1, whose allegations carry the most charges — and a key element of
the prosecutor’s argument was that Jane Doe #1 wouldn’t have been able to
describe Weinstein’s genitalia had she not been sexually assaulted by him.

During her testimony, Jane Doe #1 spoke at length about Weinstein’s
testicles. On the stand, she tearfully told the jury that Weinstein
demanded she “suck his balls,” or forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Rehashing the graphic details, she said, “He forced me to do what he
asked… I was crying, choking.” But during cross-examination, one of
Weinstein’s attorneys, Alan Jackson, asked Jane Doe #1 how Weinstein’s
“balls were in your mouth,” if he does not have testicles. “The reason
that you changed your story is because you realized at some point that Mr.
Weinstein does not have testicles in his scrotum,” Jackson said to Jane
Doe #1 during her three-day testimony. She disagreed and said she never
changed her story, and always told detectives that Weinstein had abnormal
testicles. “I recall that he didn’t have one,” she said. “It was like
empty skin.”

On Friday, Thompson addressed the jury. “You saw those photographs … I’m
sure if we asked you, it would be hard to describe … It’s hard to describe
if you’re not a medical professional.”

Thompson argued that while Jane Doe #1’s description may have not been
perfectly accurate, the only way she would have any information about
Weinstein’s testicles is if she was sexually assaulted.

“Jane Doe #1 is able to describe Mr. Weinstein’s anatomy,” Thompson said.
“She can do that because he assaulted her. There’s no other explanation
for that.”

Jane Doe #1 is not the only woman who described Weinstein’s genitalia
during the trial.

Jane Doe #2, who testified that Weinstein groped her and masturbated in
front of her in 2013 said, “His penis was disgusting. It looked like it
had been chopped off and sewn back on, like something wasn’t right about
it.”

Jane Doe #4, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, said, “I just remember being shocked
by everything.” The First Partner of California, who is married to Gov.
Gavin Newsom, has accused Weinstein of raping her in 2005 when she was an
up-and-coming actor and filmmaker. She described Weinstein’s body as
having, “Lots of bruises, markings, yellow and green, lots of stretch
marks on his belly, very not physically fit at all.” She said his penis
appeared to be “kind of fish-like,” and described “something was distorted
in the testicles … Lots of skin, lots of skin down there.”

Pertaining to Jane Doe #1, Weinstein’s attorneys say she was never in the
hotel room because a fire alarm went off in the hotel around the time of
the alleged assault, but Jane Doe #1 never heard the alarm. Prosecutors
rebutted that it’s possible that she didn’t hear the fire alarm in her
room, or that the alarm could have gone off before she had returned to the
hotel that night, after attending the film festival where she briefly met
Weinstein. During the defense’s closing arguments, Weinstein’s attorney,
Jackson, alleged that Jane Doe #1 was actually in the hotel room of the
festival organizer, Pascal Vicedomini, with whom, Jackson claimed, she was
having a sexual relationship.

In response to that accusation, Thompson brought up emails between
Weinstein and Vicedomini as evidence for the jury. In one email,
Vicedomini wrote to Weinstein, “You are my hero and my best friend in the
industry … I would always lie to please you.”

Additionally, the prosecutor brought up more emails and documents between
Weinstein and various staff members and friends, in an effort to showcase
Weinstein’s close relationships and the power he held in social circles
and professional spaces. One email between Weinstein and Giuseppe
Cipriani, the owner of Mr. C Hotel, showed Weinstein writing, “You guys
have been amazing to me,” referencing the staff at the hotel where Jane
Doe #1 alleges she was raped. At another instance, Thompson noted that
Weinstein’s former driver who testified in the trial admitted on the stand
that Weinstein was paying for his attorney.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/harvey-weinstein-abnormal-testicles-
rape-trial-1235448425/