Weinstein rape accuser to testify in pivotal trial moment

The woman whose rape allegation led to criminal charges against Harvey Weinstein is set to testify Friday in a pivotal moment for both sides.

Prosecutors look to hammer home the most serious charges in a case that stems from the allegations of just two of the scores of women who have accused Weinstein of violating them. A conviction could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, The Associated Press has a policy of not publishing the names of sexual assault accusers without their consent. It is withholding the woman’s name because it isn’t clear if she wishes to be identified publicly.

The woman alleges Weinstein raped her in his New York City hotel room in March 2013 after injecting his penis with medicine to induce an erection. She was a 27-year-old aspiring actress and he was about to turn 61.

Weinstein’s lawyers say the woman followed up the alleged rape with warm — even flirtatious — emails that said things like “Miss you, big guy," and no one “understands me quite like you.” The defense says the messages point to a consensual relationship, not a heinous sex crime.

Not once, in more than 400 messages between the two, did the woman accuse Weinstein of harming her, his lawyers have said.

On Monday, jurors heard from Weinstein has insisted any sexual encounters were consensual.

Last week, “Sopranos” actress

In questioning those women, Weinstein's lawyers also took aim at their continued interactions with him, suggesting that a follow-up meeting or communication with Weinstein was a sign that nothing untoward had happened.

But Dr. Barbara Ziv, a sex crimes expert whom the prosecution called as a witness, Victims are “hoping this is just an aberration” and they can also end up blaming themselves, Ziv testified.

To prosecutors, the woman behind the rape charge is a prime example of a Weinstein target: a young, vulnerable woman who believed the

“He was the old lady in the gingerbread house luring the kids in, missing the oven behind,” Hast said in her opening statement.

Hast said the woman and Weinstein met at a Hollywood party in February 2013 and Weinstein appeared to take an instant liking to her. They had several follow up meetings, ostensibly to talk about her career, but things turned more and more sexual, the prosecutor said.

At one meeting, Weinstein tried to give the woman a massage, only for her to rebuff him and offer him a massage instead, Hast said. At another meeting, the prosecutor said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on the woman.

The day of the alleged rape, Hast said, the woman and her actress roommate were supposed to meet Weinstein for breakfast, but instead the woman and Weinstein got into a heated confrontation that he demanded they finish in his hotel room.

There, Hast said, Weinstein started ripping the woman’s clothes off and raped her. The prosecutor said Weinstein raped the woman again in November 2013 when she was working as a hairdresser and went to cut his hair.

Weinstein has not been charged in that alleged incident.

His lawyers note that the woman’s emails continued after the second alleged rape. In February 2017, she wrote Weinstein to tell him she had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t make it to a hotel to see him.

“I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call,” she wrote, adding a smiling-face symbol afterward.