The criminal case against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein sustained a blow Thursday when prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office dropped one of the charges against him.
Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon told the court she would drop count six of the indictment, which involves Lucia Evans, an actress who accused Weinstein of forcing her to perform oral sex on him in 2004.
Prosecutors disclosed in a sealed Sept. 12 letter to the defense that they discovered a previous written account from Evans that suggested the encounter was consensual.
Weinstein defense attorney Benjamin Brafman accused Evans of committing perjury when she testified to the grand jury.
“Sexual assault is a serious crime but falsely accusing someone of sexual assault is also a serious crime,” Brafman said outside court on Thursday.
Brafman said prosecutors discovered Evans’ written account about her encounter with Weinstein from a fact-checker with The New Yorker, and said he would subpoena the magazine.
“When you do your homework after the arrest bad things happen,” Brafman said.
Weinstein’s defense team called the case “permanently and irreparably damaged” and Brafman said he would use the development to dismiss the whole case.
Evans is one of three women whose allegations form the backbone of the criminal case.
In a statement, a lawyer for Evans said that she was disappointed by the district attorney’s decision to “abandon” her client.
“Let me be clear: the decision to throw away my client’s sexual assault charges says nothing about Weinstein’s guilt or innocence. Nor does it reflect on Lucia’s consistent allegation that she was sexually assaulted with force by Harvey Weinstein,” said attorney Carrie Goldberg. “It only speaks volumes about the Manhattan DA’s office and its mishandling of my client’s case.”
The defense said it would also subpoena police interview records after claiming an NYPD detective “may have unfairly tainted these proceedings” when he prepared Evans for her testimony.
The detective has been removed from the case, Brafman said.
The NYPD has said it stands by the criminal case against Weinstein but has not directly addressed the alleged conduct of the investigator.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations of rape and sexual assault that have been made against him both in court and in the media.
