"She claimed “he asked if [her breasts] were real,” a source said.
Weinstein then allegedly grabbed her breast, and she said, “No, stop,” she told police.
Modal Trigger
Ambra Battilana
Photo: Getty Images
She claimed that Weinstein, 63, a married dad of five, then put his hand up her skirt and asked her for a kiss.
She responded “No” and left, she told police. She later went to the 1st Precinct station house off Varick Street to file a complaint."
This is clearly a sufficient accusation of sexual misconduct.
Whether this accusation eventually proves Mr. Weinstein guilty only time, patience, and fairness and impartiality to both sides can tell.
As in any other kind of criminal accusation, whether sexual or not.
However, no one who was merely questioning what "unwanted sexual advance" meant was implying either that Ms. Batillana's complaint didn't necessarily sufficiently allege criminal sexual misconduct or that what she was claiming was untrue.
We simply wanted more information than was provided in the original post and noted that "unwanted sexual advance" didn't tell us anything.
What I don't completely understand is the complaint that those bringing these charges are "put on trial." Of course it's wrong for people complaining of sex crimes to be horribly and unfairly treated either in the criminal justice system or by the public.
But an accusation and the accuser's general credibility are "on trial" in a criminal trial. No matter what the nature of that accusation might be, sexual or non-sexual. The strength of the case on trial is the strength of that accusation. The issue at the trial is whether that accusation has been sufficiently established by the evidence and whether the prosecution has met their burden of proving that accusation beyond a reasonable doubt.
And how could it possibly be otherwise?
Of course, this is not to dismiss the checkered history of abuse by both the public and the justice system against people, and especially and generally women, bringing criminal sexual complaints. Only to point out that it is inevitable that the complaint invariably remains what is "on trial" should the case proceed to trial, and that part of assessing the proof against a defendant is invariably a critical review of the complaint including the complainant's credibility.
Updated On: 3/31/15 at 10:03 AM