In 2015, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez told New York City Police that the powerful Hollywood figure Harvey Weinstein had groped her at his Tribeca office. More than seven years later, Gutierrez testified in his Los Angeles rape trial this week. Her testimony marked a pivotal moment not just for prosecutors, but Gutierrez as well: She finally got her day in court.
“I feel more relieved,†Gutierrez told Vulture on the evening of November 9 after her testimony wrapped earlier that day. “Of course, I feel tired because it’s mentally exhausting when you know that people are gonna just try to attack you for telling the truth, but that’s [the] game, you know. You have to get some punches so you can say what you want to say.â€
Prosecutors elicited the activist and model’s testimony in an effort to argue that Weinstein long exhibited a pattern of predatory behavior, and she was ready for the punches. Gutierrez took the stand on November 8, and prosecutors presented jurors an audio recording and “extensive†surveillance footage showing her with Weinstein at the time of the alleged incidents, Variety reported. In 2015, Gutierrez wore a recording device at the direction of the police and caught Weinstein apparently admitting to groping her. Even though there was an apparent recorded admission in a police-organized sting operation, Manhattan’s chief prosecutor at the time, Cyrus Vance Jr., decided not to pursue a case.
Then, in October 2017 — two years after Vance’s controversial decision — extensive reports in the New York Times and The New Yorker detailed numerous allegations against Weinstein, including rape, sexual assault, and harassment. The New Yorker published Gutierrez’s undercover audio recording, which seemingly corroborated the deluge of allegations against him. Weinstein was ultimately arrested on May 25, 2018. The Me Too movement had begun, and people were finally listening. But, Gutierrez said, “I don’t think he feels bad about what happened, still now.â€
Weinstein has since been convicted on rape and sexual-assault charges in New York, where a judge sentenced him to 23 years. In Los Angeles, he is being tried for 11 counts of alleged sexual assault involving five women between 2004 and 2013. Similar to his Manhattan trial, prosecutors are calling several women who have made uncharged allegations against Weinstein, including Gutierrez and former actor Ashley Matthau, to bolster their case.
When Gutierrez, who also detailed the NYPD sting during her time on the stand, finished direct testimony, Weinstein’s defense lawyer began his cross-examination. “The underlying incident that all this is about is that Mr. Weinstein touched your breast one time, for one second?†attorney Alan Jackson asked, referring to an incident where Weinstein allegedly repeatedly tried to kiss her during a casting meeting. “I don’t know if it was one second. It felt a lot longer. It felt like an eternity,†Variety reported Gutierrez replying.
“It went good. It was pretty good. The defense attorney didn’t have so much to do or say against me,†Gutierrez said of cross-examination. “I mean, pretty much there [was] proof that spoke for me, through videos and recordings, so I was pretty lucky.†Still, even though she had recordings, Weinstein’s attorney tried to catch alleged inconsistencies in her statement to authorities compared to her testimony. He asked Gutierrez about why she told police Weinstein had put his hand on her “knee,†but said “top of leg†during testimony. “My knee is part of my leg,†Variety quoted Gutierrez as saying. “What’s the difference?â€
“He was there, but he looked very different,†Gutierrez said of confronting Weinstein all these years later in court. “He had almost, I don’t know how to say that [his] presence was very different. The energy that he had was diminished. He lost a lot of his scary look … [he] looked like a very weak old man.â€
Afterward, she said that she thought “I was one of [witnesses] that didn’t need to really be questioned so much, because pretty much the proof was all on video and audio.†(Asked about Gutierrez’s testimony, a spokesman for Weinstein commented, “Alan Jackson demonstrated how unuseful her testimony is for the prosecution. She pretty much admitted that she’s told her narrative so many different times to different people, she couldn’t remember exactly what happened.â€)
“Being part of this trial and knowing that my testimony could help somebody makes me feel like, completed, you know,†Gutierrez said. “I feel like I’m doing my job, and I’m helping someone.â€