New York judge dismisses a sexual assault charge against producer Harvey Weinstein
By
David Walsh
15 October 2018
On October 11, a New York State Supreme Court judge dismissed one of the six sexual assault charges against Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein. Judge James Burke took the action on a defense motion, unopposed by the prosecution, after it came to light that a New York City police detective had failed to report an interview with a friend of one of the complainants, Lucia Evans, that casts doubt on her version of events.
Weinstein was charged in May with forcing Evans to perform oral sex on him. In the interview, the unnamed friend told the detective, Nicholas DiGaudio, that Evans had told her in 2004, at the time of the incident with Weinstein, that the sex act was consensual.
This was the only charge involving Evans. Five other charges against Weinstein in connection with alleged sexual assaults on two other women remain.
The role of Evans’ claims in the #MeToo movement is not incidental. Ronan Farrow prominently featured her allegations in his New Yorker magazine piece, “From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories,” posted on October 10, 2017. Farrow’s sensationalized piece, very short on evidence or facts, along with a New York Times article posted five days earlier, helped launch the sexual misconduct campaign.
In 2004, Evans was a 21-year-old student and aspiring actress. She told Farrow that Weinstein approached her at a club in New York and she gave him her number. “Weinstein began calling her late at night, or having an assistant call her, asking to meet. She declined, but said that she would do readings during the day for a casting executive,” the New Yorker piece asserted. Evans…