Weinstein Fate Could Turn as Expert Witness Explains Confusing Behavior of Rape Accuser

Closing arguments are expected to begin Monday afternoon in the third New York rape trial against disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Defense attorneys raised serious doubts last week and it seemed like Weinstein could win over the jury, but prosecutors called an expert witness on Friday who may have turned the tide. “Eighty percent of sexual assault is committed by people who are known to one another,” the clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Lisa Rocchio explained to the jury at Manhattan criminal court on Friday. Jurors avidly took notes and listened attentively as the expert witness testified about Weinstein’s accuser, the former aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, whom she has never met or examined.Last week, when Ms. Mann testified, some of the jurors had rolled their eyes, one juror shook her head, and another was seen laughing in disbelief. Ms. Mann is alleging in court for the third time that Weinstein raped her at the DoubleTree hotel at New York in 2013. At Weinstein’s first trial in 2020, the jury convicted him on her charge at the third-degree level, not the more serious first-degree count — a distinction carrying a difference of more than two decades in maximum prison time.However, the New York Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in 2024, reasoning that the trial judge had wrongly allowed testimony by women whose accusations were not part of the indictment. When the Manhattan district attorney’s office brought the case again in 2025 the jury could not agree on a verdict for Ms. Mann’s charge and the judge declared a mistrial. Weinstein, who remains in jail due to sex crime convictions in New York and Los Angeles involving other women, refused to take a plea deal. The former movie mogul insists his sexual encounters were consensual. He pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him in both New York and California, and is appealing his convictions. Prosecutors, perhaps equally as stubborn, decided to bring Ms. Mann’s charge for a third time. They accuse Weinstein of using his power in Hollywood to manipulate and threaten her, and to refuse her “no” as an answer. The case is complicated because Ms. Mann, 40, and Weinstein, 74, were in a four-year long, off-again-on-again relationship that included some consensual encounters, as Ms. Mann has acknowledged.Last week, Weinstein’s defense team submitted new evidence, a love note, which had not been presented at the 2020 and 2025 trials. This note was retrieved when Ms. Mann handed over her cellphones to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office back in 2018. Ms. Mann wrote the note to herself two days after the alleged rape, expressing her feelings for someone that the judge ruled was clearly Weinstein.“I have let myself become emotionally attached to someone… And I want that person to love me back,” the note reads. “Do I love him or the idea of him?” This evidence clearly raised doubt about her allegation. But on Friday, Dr. Rocchio explained it is possible for a victim “to love” her abuser, especially a woman, who like Ms. Mann had experienced sexual and physical abuse as a child. “You can have children,” Dr. Rocchio explained, “who grow up with horrific domestic abuse and still very much love their parents. … The kids growing up learn that people who love you, who are taking care of you, can also hurt you. … The price of getting the good stuff is also the harm that may be occurring.”This trauma, the psychologist went on, carries over to the abusive relationship in adulthood. The expert said it’s “quite common” that victims have “mixed feelings” for their abusers. “It’s quite common for someone to love an individual and really hate what that individual was doing,” Dr. Rocchio testified. “Where do we see someone who is 100 percent awful? Abuse and violence are interspersed with episodes that are positive. And that puts a sense of hope in the victim that things will get better.” Dr. Rocchio further explained that many victims don’t understand their experience was rape or assault. “The majority of individuals, who have been raped and sexually assaulted will still not label that experience as rape or sexual assault,” she said, adding that the denial helps to “deal with the pain.” Many victims make excuses for their abusers, she said, like “he was drunk, he didn’t mean it, it wasn’t really an assault. … He didn’t listen to me but that’s not rape.” The assistant district attorney, Nicole Blumberg, who has served as the chief of the Sex Crimes Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office since June 2022, questioned her witness about other common trauma responses, including involuntary automatic responses during the assault, when a victim is often focused on the “survival in the moment.” “‘The idea of yelling didn’t even occur to me,’” the psychologist said, putting herself in the victim’s place. “‘I didn’t see the door, I didn’t see the sign, my attention was elsewhere.’” Defense attorneys had questioned Ms. Mann about why she did not leave the hotel room, when Weinstein, as she had testified, was in the bathroom before he allegedly pinned her down, threw his 300-pound weight on top of her, and raped her. “The idea of running out the door may not have occurred to (the victims),” Dr. Rocchio said, explaining that victims often think, “‘If I make a run for it and I don’t make it, I could die.’” Dr. Rocchio also spoke about coping strategies in the aftermath, distraction or “throwing yourself into your work.” “‘I went home, I got in the shower, and I went to work,’” the psychologist said, citing another example of what she had learned from victims she has treated. The expert also addressed the delayed onset of PTSD, and testified that it is not uncommon for victims not to report the crimes. In fact, she said, “Rape and sexual assault are well regarded to be the most underreported crimes.” Ms. Mann did not come forward with her allegation until 2017, four years after the alleged incident occurred. After the lunch break, defense attorney Jacob Kaplan asked Dr. Rocchio again about her hourly rate. The witness had already told the prosecutor that she charged $600 per hour for her testimony work. But the defense doubled down on the math, comparing the fee to her $350 private practice rate. Dr. Rocchio admitted that she spent approximately 10 hours preparing for the retrial, and about 40 hours on the prior Weinstein case, amounting to a total of about $24,000.The defense attorney did not mention that the expert for the defense team, Elizabeth Loftus, who was called in 2020, charged $14,000 for her testimony, of which she was only paid $10,000, according to The New Yorker. Mr. Kaplan did ask the psychologist to explain the term ‘malingering’ to the jury, the intentional fabrication or exaggeration of physical or psychological symptoms to obtain external incentives. “So sometimes people lie?” the defense attorney asked, simplifying the behavior. “That is also true,” Dr. Rocchio replied. Prosecutors plan to call one more witness and read in the testimony from another on Monday. The judge mentioned he would have to attend to several other cases before or after lunch. Summations are expected to begin on Monday afternoon, but could get delayed and start on Tuesday morning. Weinstein’s defense attorneys do not want their client to testify. But it’s ultimately his choice to make when the judge asks him after the prosecution rests its case.

Weinstein Fate Could Turn as Expert Witness Explains Confusing Behavior of Rape Accuser

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