Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is seeking to get the criminal case against him thrown out of court.
On Friday, his lawyers filed a defence motion citing dozens of “warm” emails they say Mr Weinstein received from one of his accusers after an alleged rape.
His team argue prosecutors should have shared the evidence with the Grand Jury that indicted him.
Mr Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to six charges involving three different women.
The accuser in question has retained her anonymity.
Mr Weinstein’s lawyers say the case should be dismissed in its pre-trial stage.
In their motion, they included “dozens of emails written by the anonymous accuser, who sent extensive warm, complimentary and solicitous messages to Mr Weinstein immediately following the now claimed event and over the next four-year period.
“These communications irrefutably reflect the true nature of this consensual intimate friendship, which never at any time included a forcible rape.”
The New York District Attorney’s Office has not yet commented.
Where did these emails come from?
After Mr Weinstein was fired by his company last year, the emails were turned over to his legal team, according to the LA Times.
The judge dealing with his separate bankruptcy case issued an order saying the private messages could not be released, because the accuser could lose her right to anonymity.
On Thursday, that same judge conceded the correspondence could be used in Mr Weinstein’s motion against the criminal case, as long as the woman’s identity was protected.
Source: bbc.co.uk
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