Transcript: Lawyers & Witnesses in Harvey Weinstein Trial Speak with Media

Ambra Gutierrez Interview (Witness)

Ambra Gutierrez: (00:00)
I don’t know if you know about my story, but back in 2015, I tried with whatever I could have possible done to getting to what happens today. I’m happy to see that at least something was done right the second time.

Speaker 2: (00:23)
Tell me what happened with you and Mr. Weinstein.

Yes. Back in 2015, I was assaulted and I went to the police an hour after. I, the next day, worked with an undercover operation with the police to record him and meeting what he did to me and nothing then was brought to justice. I could say that right now I’m happy to see that those years that I lost of my life are getting back. Of course there is a lot of work to do and I’m here to being there and speak to people so that a situation like this would never happen again. And yeah, this is my mission right now.

Speaker 2: (01:07)
Say and spell your name for me.

Ambra Batalona Gutierrez.

Speaker 2: (01:11)
Spell that please.

Yes. Ambra, A-M-B-R-A Battilana’s B-A-T-T-I-L-A-N-A Gutierrez, G-U-T-I-E-R-R-E-Z.

Speaker 2: (01:23)
What’s next for you?

What’s next? Also, this Friday I’m working with organizations that would try to push the survival, Adult Survival Act and that would try to open a window for the statue of limitation so that adults, if they feel right now, they wanted to reopen their cases, that could be possible because we need justice. We need to feel that our life gets back. And that’s something that it’s very in need for now to try to do.

Speaker 2: (02:06)
Thank you for speaking.

Thank you.

Lawyers Doug Wigdor, Debra Katz, and Gloria Allred Speak to Media

Doug Wigdor: (02:21)
Good afternoon everybody. My name is Doug Wigdor. I have the privilege of representing Tarale Wulff, who was one of the three Molineux witnesses in this criminal trial. And I also represent three other claimants in civil trials, civil cases against Harvey Weinstein. And I also represent two other people who were objecting to the civil settlement. Again, Doug Wigdor, and this is…

Debra Katz: (02:47)
My name is Debra Katz. I also represent one of the Molineux witnesses, Dawn Dunning. And I’ve represented Irwin Reiter who was an insider. I’ve represented Irwin Reiter who was an insider at the Weinstein Company. But Doug and I both represent two very courageous women who testified in court at great personal risk. They came forward and described the predatory behavior of now convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.

Debra Katz: (03:20)
No longer will we accept, as a society, a defense that poor Harvey Weinstein was an unwitting victim of women who took advantage of him. It will no longer be acceptable in courts for anyone to argue that women who are victimized by sexual predators brought it on themselves because they wanted to advance in their careers. Those days are over. There was a repudiation of that argument today, and that is all to the good that moves us all forward because arguments of the type made by Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers have kept women back and have silenced women and have scared women from time immemorial. It is a new error. The Me Too movement has educated us all about how pervasive this kind of behavior it is and how unacceptable it is. And today the jury put an exclamation point on that, in the most significant way possible.

Debra Katz: (04:14)
Doug and I were in court as we saw Harvey Weinstein being remanded into police custody. Harvey Weinstein is exactly where he should be now, behind bars. Harvey Weinstein has hurt dozens and dozens of people by his sexual predatory rapists, violent behavior, and today there could be no other discussion other than Harvey Weinstein is exactly where he should be.

Let me just add too to Debra’s comments, all of which I completely agree with. I think one of the things about today is we will not see Harvey Weinstein come down those steps in his feeble attempt of pretending to be unwell and using a walker because he is now in custody. He’s been remanded. He awaits sentencing in March by Judge Burke and today is a significant day because he’s been held responsible for his actions. But while we can’t undo that harm … While he’s been convicted, we can’t undo the harm that he has caused to so many victims today will be some mode of relief for all of the assault survivors who hopefully today can bring about some sense of relief. And so for all of the survivors to participated in this criminal trial, I think Debra and myself and everyone else who participated in this trial want to thank them.

I’m confident that each one of the six woman who testified, convinced this jury to convict two separate victims, one of criminal sexual assault in the first degree, Mimi Haley. And I know that Gloria Allred will be speaking about her shortly and also another victim in rape third degree, Ms. Mann. To Mimi Haley, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Tarale Wulff, Dawn Dunning and Lauren Young, let me say on behalf of all of the victims, thank you very much for your participation. Thank you for having the courage to stand up in not easy circumstances to face cross examination, to face the media, to face scrutiny, but to do what was right. And thank you to those women for lending a voice to those that couldn’t be directly heard because we know that there are many other victims of Harvey Weinstein who were not testifying at this trial. But their voice was heard through the six courageous women. And of course we are also grateful for the incredible and courageous reporting that got us here. Through Jodi, Megan and Ronan and to their sources who risk violating nondisclosure agreements, rogue investigations, threats and the power of Harvey Weinstein.

We would not be here today if it were not for that reporting and for those sources. And of course, we’re also grateful to the Manhattan district attorney’s office that worked tirelessly in reporting, in investigating and trying this case to Jonah Lucy to Megan Hast, we’re all appreciative of your hard work, dedication, commitment and seeing that justice was served today. And to the men and women who supported them in the district attorney’s office. And to Cy Vance as well. He and I not necessarily have gotten on back in 2011 with DSK when I represented [inaudible 00:07:40], but today is a new day. And to him, I congratulate him and I’d like to thank him for bringing this case.

And finally to the jurors, the jurors who gave up weeks of their life to be here, to finally come back with a verdict. And as I see them behind me, to defense counsel. They had a job to do, a client to represent because of them, Harvey Weinstein received a fair trial, even though he lost, he was lucky enough to have them represent him. And let me just say this and finally because I think we have some people who really want to speak, who deserve to speak, but I represent three other woman as I mentioned, Ms. Socolow, Ms. David, Ms. Hewitt, and we intend to continue to hold Harvey Weinstein accountable for what he did to those women and to follow up on this criminal trial. Thank you.

Speaker 5: (08:38)
You guys are going to have to make a choice because we have to go do some work. So you can either hear from the defense team or you can hear from the lawyers.

Gloria Allred: (08:44)
You’re not going to silence me again.

Speaker 5: (08:47)
No silencing.

Oh yes, you are.

Speaker 5: (08:49)
All right.

Oh, yes you are.

Speaker 5: (08:50)
So then you guys aren’t going to hear from us.

Well, really? All right. I have a short statement. Today, the jury in the criminal case of the people of the state of New York versus Harvey Weinstein, we turned a verdict against the defendant, Harvey Weinstein. Do you want to go over there? Is that what you want to do? This is a legal reckoning for Harvey Weinstein. The three witnesses whom I represent have been role models in courage. Without them and their willingness to testify under oath in this case and without their willingness to be subjected to an intense and brutal cross examination, this result would never have been won. Mimi Hayley is one of the two victims in this criminal case and she is my client. Mimi sacrificed her right to privacy in the interest of justice. Annabella Sciorra was a very brave witness on this issue of sexually predatory conduct. Lauren Marie Young was a Molineux witness, prior bad act witness. She’s also one of the two victims in the Los Angeles County criminal case against Harvey Weinstein, which will be prosecuted in Los Angeles very soon.

All of my three clients should be considered heroes of the women’s movement and the victims rights movement. These witnesses told their truth under oath, despite what many people felt were unfair attacks on their credibility by Harvey Weinstein’s defense lawyers, who attempted to do anything and everything legally possible to challenge the motives of the witnesses and blame them for what the witnesses testified that the defendant, Harvey Weinstein, did to them. Fortunately, the defense attempts to discredit them were not successful. My clients bravely stood in their truth and refuse to be intimidated, bullied, or shamed into substantially changing their testimony about what the defendant did to them. I’m very proud of them. I very happy that the jury delivered the verdict that was read in court today as to Mimi and as to Jessica, whom I do not represent.

The jury took their time. They asked very thoughtful questions in advance of the verdict and we thanked them for their service on this [inaudible 00:11:39] case and for their carefully considered verdict, which I believe is a just result as to Mimi and to Jessica. Harvey Weinstein will now have to finally face the serious consequences of his criminal behavior at his sentencing here in New York on March 11th. The most serious charge is the one that he was convicted on from my client, Mimi. For that he can face 10 to 25 years. And the victim does have an opportunity to speak at the sentencing and give her victim impact statement. And in the event that Mimi is available on March 11th, she and I will be here in order to do that.

Debra Katz: (12:24)
Donna just said that Harvey was shocked. Maybe you want to respond to that.

That he was what? Okay, good. Thank you. That’s good. In addition, I look forward to seeing him in Los Angeles after the sentencing as he attempts to defend himself against the criminal charges, which will face him there. And as I said, I represent Lauren Young, who’s one of the two victims for whom charges have been filed in Los Angeles. And she was a Molineux a witness in this case. I look forward to him in his sentencing in the next criminal trial in Los Angeles, where as I said, I’ll be representing Lauren Marie Young and this case will continue.

I will say this about Annabella, even though the jury did not find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Mr. Weinstein, was guilty of a crime against Mimi and a crime against Jessica and sexually predatory conduct, Annabella is absolutely one of the bravest women I know. She sacrificed so much privacy, invested so much time, went through so much just for the cause of justice. She didn’t have to do it. She did do it and I’m just so honored to know her and to represent her. The fact that they did not find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on the issue of sexually predatory conduct does not mean that there weren’t members of the jury who believed Annabella. Although I have not had an opportunity to speak, nor have I heard any interviews by members of the jury, I have confidence that were people in the jury, there were members of the jury who did credit Annabella’s testimony. It’s just that the jury could not find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the highest burden of proof in the law.

It’s always possible that she was believed, but that the high burden of proof required to find him guilty on sexually predatory conduct, is not something that the jury could find. But nonetheless, she’s so brave. Susan B. Anthony once said, “Courage is the best protection a woman can have” and I just can’t say enough about her courage through all of this. And I’m also going to say in advance, I know they’re going to be many people in Los Angeles who are going to be testifying in the Los Angeles case whom you have not yet heard from and who will also demonstrate courage in testifying in LA. I’ll be happy to take some questions.

Pardon me? If I could talk to Harvey Weinstein, what would I tell him right now? Well, I just heard that his attorney said that he was shocked. That he surprised by the verdict. Well, he shouldn’t have been surprise. If you do to women what you did to Mimi, what the jury found that you did to Mimi, criminal sexual act, what the jury found that you did to Jessica, you shouldn’t be surprised if you have to face criminal consequences for the crimes that you committed against them. You shouldn’t be shocked. You should have been prepared for this.

It’s no longer business as usual in the United States. This is the age of empowerment of women and you cannot intimidate them anymore because women will not be silenced. They will speak up, they will have their voice, they will stand up and be subjected to your small army of defense attorneys, cross examining them, attempting to discredit them, humiliate them, shame them and they will still stand in their truth. Harvey Weinstein, this justice has been a long time coming, but it’s finally here. And it’s not the end because LA is still going to proceed and I believe that will happen after the sentencing. That he will be quickly going to Los Angeles and we’re looking forward to seeing him there.

I’m sorry? Can’t hear you. In this case? Okay. Well, Prince Andrew, Prince Andrew needs to start by talking to the FBI. And so I do hope that everyone who saw my message on the yellow school bus on Friday to Prince Andrew and to the public in Great Britain, “Which said if you see this man, ask him to call the FBI” and it had the FBI’s number. It’s not an accident it was on a school bus because it’s about children with Jeffrey Epstein and his sex trafficking of underage girls. My message is, it’s time to step up to the bar of justice or at least talk to the FBI. Say what you know.

Well, they haven’t questioned him because he hasn’t agreed to be questioned. The clock is ticking. Thank you. Any other questions about Harvey Weinstein or what happened today? I’ll just say I’m very happy. I’m thrilled. When the verdict came back guilty for Bill Cosby, I said women were believed. And now that the verdict has come back guilty, guilty for Harvey Weinstein, I will say once again, women were believed. For those of you who are listening and watching, if you are a victim of rape or sexual abuse or sexual assault, please know that this is a new day for victims of gender violence. Law enforcement is now beginning to believe you. Juries are beginning to believe you and to convict so just have courage. This is a new day. Justice may be coming for you as well. Thank you.

Transcript: Lawyers & Witnesses in Harvey Weinstein Trial Speak with Media

Ambra Gutierrez Interview (Witness)

Lawyers Doug Wigdor, Debra Katz, and Gloria Allred Speak to Media

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