Weinstein seeks to dismiss case over 'intimate' emails

Lawyer exposes dozens of interactions between Hollywood mogul and his alleged rape victim

NEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein's defense lawyer on Friday demanded that a New York court dismiss the sex crimes charges against him, explosively disclosing dozens of intimate emails between the disgraced Hollywood tycoon and his alleged rape victim, in which she said "I love you”.

Ben Brafman, one of America's most celebrated defense attorneys who helped former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn escape criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011, called for the entire indictment against Weinstein to be dismissed, based on the emails and a series of technicalities. The 66-year-old former Tinsel town titan is out on bail and has pleaded not guilty to six counts allegedly committed against three women in 2004, 2006 and 2013. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for September 20.

PHOTO: AFP

His arrest and arraignments have led #MeToo campaigners to hope that the twice-married father of five – whom nearly 100 women have publicly accused of sexual misconduct – will be put on trial, convicted and sent to prison. But Brafman's explosive filing demanded that the indictment "be dismissed at the pre-trial stage because it is legally infirm”, saying that the district attorney's failure to present the emails had tainted the process.

Weinstein charged with rape, sex crime in New York

Messages sent in the weeks, months and even years after the alleged 2013 rape showed that Weinstein and the woman were in a "long-term, consensual, intimate relationship" that never once referred to an assault, Brafman claimed. "Hope you are well and call me anytime, always good to hear your voice," she allegedly wrote to him in August 2013, five months after the claimed assault.

PHOTO:FILE

"I was so happy you saw me today!" the woman apparently said that October. In January 2014, the defense quoted her as writing, "You’re the one who makes it look good with your smile and beautiful eyes." Some of the messages appeared even more intimate. "There is no one else I would enjoy catching up with that understands me quite like you," she purportedly wrote to Weinstein in July 2014. In another exchange, she wrote to say, "Just had u cross my mind and thought u would send a hello."

When Weinstein apparently replied, "Love to cross your mind it's my favorite exercise," she answered, "That made me laugh so hard." Brafman said the dozens of emails should not have been kept from the grand jury that returned the indictments against the former producer.

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