Weinstein trial turns tense as accuser gestures at him and lawyers clash over a movie reference

NEW YORK (AP) — A key witness stared down Harvey Weinstein and pointed sharply at him as she left court in sobs Tuesday, marking one of the most heated points of the former studio boss' sex crimes retrial.

And that was before noon. By the end of the day, prosecutors and defense lawyers were clashing over a question related to the 1989 movie “When Harry Met Sally ...,” an unexpected flashpoint about a film Weinstein didn't produce.

The finger-pointing confrontation came after Jessica Mann described Weinstein grabbing, dragging, forcefully undressing and raping her in a Beverly Hills, California, hotel room around the beginning of 2014, after she told him she was dating someone else.

“You owe me one more time!” Weinstein bellowed, according to Mann, who wiped her eyes and took heaving breaths as she testified. Weinstein — who denies ever raping or sexually assaulting anyone — briefly shook his head as he watched from the defense table.

After Mann finished her narrative, she continued crying and didn't answer when a prosecutor asked whether she needed a break. Judge Curtis Farber called for one.

When Mann passed the defense table on her way out, she turned toward the seated Weinstein, aimed a finger at her eyes and then at him. It wasn't clear how many jurors saw the gesture, and Mann didn't respond to a question outside court about what she meant to convey.

After they left, Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala requested a mistrial, as the defense has repeatedly done before. He cited Mann's gesticulation, questioned her displays of emotion and complained that she shouldn't have been asked about the alleged Los Angeles rape, as Weinstein isn't actually charged with it.

The Oscar-winning producer is charged with raping Mann on another occasion, in 2013 in New York, and forcing oral sex on two other women separately in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Farber denied the mistrial request but suggested that Mann be told not to make any more such moves. The judge noted that he had also seen Weinstein react visibly and mutter at times during the trial.

Mann returned to the witness stand without looking at Weinstein, who watched her stone-faced.

She resumed testifying through an edgy morning. And it got edgier in the afternoon, when Aidala began questioning Mann, 39, about her fraught and complex history with Weinstein, 73. She has said she had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with the then-married Weinstein, but that he was volatile and violated her if she refused him.

In an opening statement last month, Aidala portrayed Mann as an aspiring actor who had only willing sexual encounters with a Hollywood bigwig she thought could help her.

During questioning Tuesday, the attorney noted she accepted party invitations, dinners and rides from Weinstein and underscored the fact that she continued to see the producer after he allegedly raped her. Aidala also zeroed in on her testimony Monday that she tried to reject Weinstein's first sexual advance but ultimately pretended to enjoy it.

Mann had testified that she gave in because he wouldn’t let her leave, and she faked an orgasm in order to extricate herself. Aidala pressed for specifics on how she had “lied to” Weinstein.

“Meg Ryan in the restaurant,” Mann replied, referring to a memorable scene involving Ryan’s character in “When Harry Met Sally ....”

Mann explained that she had been “making noises," and Aidala began asking her to elaborate. Prosecutors jumped in to object. After an out-of-earshot discussion among the lawyers and judge, Aidala moved on to another question.

After jurors and Mann went home for the day, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo complained that Aidala's questioning went “beyond the pale.” Aidala insisted he “was never going to ask her to start moaning,” and he said the matter was relevant to Weinstein's understanding of what happened between him and Mann.

Weinstein went from movie mogul to #MeToo pariah in 2017, after allegations emerged that he had sexually harassed and sexually abused women for years. He was later convicted of various sex crimes in both New York and California, but his New York conviction was later overturned, leading to the retrial.

It has been tense at times as his accusers underwent days of questioning. One, Miriam Haley, cursed at Weinstein from the witness stand. Another, Kaja Sokola, was dismayed by questions about her private journal, which Weinstein's lawyers got without her knowledge.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who allege they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified. Haley, Mann and Sokola have done so.

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Associated Press video journalist Joseph B. Frederick contributed.