Harvey Weinstein trial - live: Movie mogul in court over charges of rape and sexual assault, two years after first allegations
Prosecutors make their case against Harvey Weinstein in a trial expected to last six weeks
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Your support makes all the difference.Two years after he was accused of rape and sexual assault, the opening statements in movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's trial got under way today.
Weinstein, once one of Hollywood's most powerful producers, denies the charges.
More than 80 women have publicly accused the 67-year-old of sexual misconduct, helping to fuel the #MeToo movement over the last two years. The criminal charges against him refer to three of those accusers.
Predatory sexual assault is the most serious charge against Weinstein, carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Weinstein's lead lawyer, Donna Rotunno, says Weinstein had a "slew of witnesses ready to go".
Follow our live blog below for updates from the court.
Even if he is acquitted in Manhattan, Weinstein faces separate criminal charges announced earlier this month by prosecutors in Los Angeles.
Given the opening statement, prosecutor Meghan Hast said Weinstein "was not just a titan in Hollywood. He was a rapist."
Backed by expected testimony from four other accusers - including actress Annabella Sciorra — prosecutors will attempt to portray Weinstein as a monster who used his power to ingratiate himself with women, sometimes promising a film role or other career advancement, before sexually assaulting or raping them.
"They will each describe their fear, their shame and their humiliation - the struggle each went through to push their trauma down and show a brave face to the world," Hast said in her opening statement.
She detailed allegations that Weinstein sexually assaulted Sciorra around 1993 after giving the "Sopranos" actress a ride home to her Manhattan apartment and pushing his way inside.
"She told him to get out. She told him no. But Harvey Weinstein was undeterred."
"It is for his complete lack of empathy that he must be held accountable," Hast said.
Dozens of women have accused Weinstein of sexually harassing or assaulting them over the years, but the New York charges are limited to two allegations: that Weinstein raped a woman in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performed oral sex on another woman in his apartment in 2006.
Another time, after the woman told him she had a new boyfriend, Weinstein dragged her into a bedroom, "all the while screaming at her that he owed her one more time," Hast said. "He ripped her jeans off so forcefully that it left scratch marks."
The prosecutor said Weinstein later told the woman, "I just want to apologise for what happened earlier. I just find you so attractive, I couldn't resist you."
In a failed last-ditch attempt to get the trial moved, Weinstein's lawyers said chants of "The rapist is you!" at street level could be heard in the courtroom, 15 floors above.
A large TV screen in court flashed images of victims or pictures meant to convey Weinstein's power, including one of him with former President Bill Clinton.
The scene outside the court has been relatively quiet today. Weinstein's defence team had used recent demonstrations to make a failed bid to change the venue due to the "carnival-like atmosphere" at the courthouse.
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