Harvey Weinstein wants to testify – but he won’t – as a matter of courtroom strategy, a spokesman for the former movie mogul now midway through a rape retrial in New York told TheWrap on Monday.
Weinstein has told his lawyers that he wants to take the stand in his own defense, one of his attorneys, Arthur Aidala, told reporters last month, which would have been a first for him across his three trials in New York and Los Angeles. Though they considered it, his legal team confirmed Monday that it would only expose him to unnecessary risk.
“He’s not hiding, and we’re not shielding him,” Weinstein spokesman Juda Engelmayer told TheWrap in a statement. “He wants to testify, and we respect that. But the courtroom isn’t just about truth — it’s also strategy.”
Putting Weinstein on the stand opens up avenues that are not available to the prosecution if he stays mum. It is very rare for criminal defendants to testify in their own defense, as attorneys rarely see it as a net positive.
“Once he’s on the stand, the prosecution can range far beyond the current charges, using unrelated or unclear details to try to undermine his credibility,” Engelmayer said. “This isn’t about evasion; it’s about navigating a legal process that often resembles chess more than it does a straightforward search for truth.”
Closing arguments were expected to begin late this week in the retrial that was triggered after a New York appeals court threw out Weinstein’s previous conviction over improper testimony. He is charged in New York with raping one woman and with forcing oral sex on two others, all three of whom have now testified, in 2006.
Weinstein’s conviction in a California court, which allowed New York authorities to hold him while he awaited retrial, is being appealed.
