Harvey Weinstein's lawyer says he's a 'sinner,' not a rapist

NEW YORK — Donna Rotunno, the hard-charging Chicago defense attorney who is one of Harvey Weinstein's lawyers, said Tuesday that her client is not without sin — but he's also not "a rapist."

Speaking on "CBS This Morning," Rotunno said she feels strongly that the evidence will exonerate the accused movie mogul of any criminal wrongdoing.

Rotunno, a former prosecutor, built her reputation on defending men accused of sexual assault and rape. She has handled about 40 cases defending men accused of sexual misconduct but the trial of Weinstein is her most high-profile case to date.

Weinstein is scheduled to go to trial in January on five sex-crime charges involving two women, including allegations he raped a woman in his Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on the other accuser in 2006.

He has pleaded not guilty and denies all accusations of non-consensual sex.

Among other defenses, Weinstein is expected to argue that emails and text messages show he had consensual relationships with his accusers, who continued friendly communications with him after the alleged crimes.

"In the criminal case, there are two charged victims and in both cases I feel strongly about the fact that we have evidence that is favorable to us and evidence that I think will exonerate him," Rotunno said.

CBS's Gayle King asked her if she is concerned that Judge James Burke has allowed prosecutors to call at least three other accusers, whose allegations have not been charged, to testify as "prior-bad-acts witnesses" to bolster the prosecution's case that Weinstein engaged in an alleged pattern of criminal behavior over years.

"I think there's always a concern about those things. I think the notion of where there's smoke, there's fire is always something that we have to worry about," Rotunno said.

"This is more than fire, though," King replied. "This is an inferno when it comes to Harvey Weinstein."

"I don't think that's the case (in the criminal matter)," Rotunno said. "I'm not here to say that he was not guilty of committing sins...But there's a difference between sins and crimes and I don't think he's a rapist. I don't believe he's a rapist."

The trial will occur against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, which was fueled by public allegations from more than 80 women of sexual misconduct by Weinstein, ranging from sexual harassment to groping to sexual assault to rape.

Starting with exposés in The New York Times and The New Yorker in October 2017, Weinstein has become the face of the effort to call out sexual misconduct by powerful men in multiple industries, including Hollywood.

"I think in many ways there are good things about #MeToo," Rotunno said. However, the empowerment movement "allows the court of public opinion to take over the narrative" in a way that can't be corrected or challenged, which can result in the accused being "stripped of your rights."

"It's really about making sure those issues don't cloud our ability to pick a fair jury," she said.

Last month, Weinstein's legal team filed a motion seeking to move the trial out of New York City, to either Long Island or Albany, on the grounds that intense pretrial coverage of the case makes it impossible to pick an impartial jury and get a fair trial. The appellate court has not yet ruled on the motion.

No matter what happens at trial, Rotunno said, Weinstein "will pay the biggest price there is," because his life and career as he knew it is over even if he is acquitted.

"His whole life has been ruined, toppled, damaged. And whether it's by his own doing or others, that's the fact," Rotunno said. "We can walk out of that courtroom with a not guilty and walk him out onto those courtroom steps — and he never gets to be Harvey Weinstein ever again."

Rotunno and New York lawyer Arthur Aidala are members of Weinstein's third team of defense attorneys since he was indicted in May 2019.

Contributing: Maria Puente, USA TODAY, The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harvey Weinstein not a rapist but a 'sinner,' lawyer says