Paul Haggis' attorney Priya Chaudhry tried to combat former film publicist Haleigh Breest's claims that the filmmaker raped her: “What she does is create publicity…She wants to be famous. She wants to be Monica Lewinsky.”
Jury deliberations will begin on Thursday after tense closing arguments in the New York civil rape trial of, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a former film publicist nearly a decade ago.
The jury will have to deliberate on five key topics, including the question of whether the defendant and plaintiff had sexual intercourse by force and oral sex by force. Beyond that, jurors will determine if compensatory or punitive damages should be awarded to Breest. Later, Chaudhry suggested the lawsuit is attempted extortion. “This trial is not about justice for her. This is a blatant cash grab,” she said. “This lawsuit has utterly destroyed [Haggis’ career], but to Haleigh, this case is about money. It’s a payday.”
“When you say yes to having a drink at a man’s house after midnight, you cannot be shocked when he makes a pass at you,” Chaudhry said during the three-hour closing argument. “This is the world we live in. We all know what that means.” During the prosecution’s closing arguments, Breest’s attorney Ilann Maazel countered that claim, saying, “[Blaming Scientology] is the perfect defense. There was no evidence, so you’d never know.” He added, “The church is a cult, and Mr. Haggis is a rapist. Both are true.”
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