Harvey Weinstein won’t testify in criminal trial as defence rests case after just three days

Decision means prosecutors won’t be able to cross-examine producer

The defence has rested its case in Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial after just three days.

The decision, announced on Tuesday, means that the producer won’t take the stand in the case – which would have given prosecutors the right to cross-examine him.

Weinstein is accused of raping a woman in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

The judge is expected to instruct jurors not to view Weinstein’s decision not to testify as a sign of guilt.

“I am not a fan of blowing the lead if I feel like we are already on a road to victory,” Brian McMonagle, a defence lawyer not involved in the case who helped secure a mistrial in Bill Cosby’s first sexual assault trial in 2017, told The Associated Press.

“In some cases, it is an easy decision because the client either can’t provide a credible explanation or you simply do not believe your client could survive cross-examination because of any number or reasons.”

It is common for defendants not to take the stand during criminal trials. The prosecution cannot compel the defendant to testify.

Prosecutors in Weinstein’s trial rested their case on Thursday last week, opening the floor for the defence team to start questioning its own witnesses.

The defence ended up relying on just a few witnesses to supplement its aggressive cross-examination of the witnesses previously brought forward by the prosecution.

Prosecutors brought to the stand the two women whose charges are at the centre of the trial, as well as four other women who alleged misconduct on Weinstein’s part.

Through its cross-examination and testimonies, the defence team attacked the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, calling to the stand an expert on human memory, among others.

Weinstein has been increasingly upbeat coming and going from court as the trial has worn on, though in front of jurors he has mostly been sitting quietly at the defence table, munching on mints, jotting notes and occasionally appearing to doze off.

On Monday, after testimony from a defence witness who repudiated the account of one of Weinstein’s accusers, his lawyer Arthur Aidala declared: “It was a great day for the defence today.”

Closing arguments will be delivered before the jury can start deliberating.

Additional reporting by agencies