The four women who accused Paul Haggis of sexual assault will be allowed to testify at his upcoming civil trial — but no mention of the director will be mentioned. Recent rape arrests in Italy will be banned, a New York judge has ruled.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Sabrina Cross is also allowing Haggis to present evidence she claims will prove the trial from campaigner Haley Brest — which goes before a jury next month. was coined by the Church of Scientology,
Oscar-winning “Crash” filmmakers and Brest have been presenting it in court since 2017. When he filed suit claiming he raped her during a one night stand on January 31, 2013. The case is set for hearing on October 11, and both sides are now debating whether jurors can hear some of the evidence at trial.
Cross said in a ruling on Friday that she would not allow Haggis. June arrested in Italy for rape to come to trial because “the charges have not been sustained and were deemed insufficient to hold” [Haggis’] Arrested.”
However, the judge said she would allow four other women who have accused Haggis of sexual assault, to testify over the objections of her lawyers in the case. The case rises and falls as to whether Brest consented to their sexual encounter—and the testimony of other women may give weight to his claims that he did not, Cross ruled.
She cited a similar appellate court ruling that had allowed other women To testify against Harvey Weinstein At his 2020 criminal trial in Manhattan, however, he was not charged with his charges. Weinstein is currently appealing that decision with the Supreme Court of New York.
The judge will also allow Haggis to present evidence that he says the Church of Scientology will prove. Brest is behind the allegations against him. Haggis, who left Scientology after 30 years in 2009, has claimed that The Church Has “Vengeance” Against Him to talk about it.
Cross found that the jury is entitled to hear its defense argument that the church was “trying to engage Haggis in devastating, false allegations about women prior to the Brest allegations,” the ruling reads.
Haggis, 69, does not deny that he slept with Brest, but claims the encounter was consensual.
Haggis claims that because of his efforts to expose the church, it dug dirt on him, persuaded women to make false allegations of sexual misconduct against him – and that Brest’s case is part of a campaign to destroy his reputation .
“The whole world knows that Scientology has been bent on destroying Paul Haggis from the time he spoke against him,” Haggis’ lawyer Priya Choudhary told The Post. “Italian courts quickly found that the accuser in Italy was completely lacking in credibility. We expect the New York jury to do the same.
Brest’s legal team said in a statement: “Upon Paul Haggis’ objection, Judge Cross ruled that several other women could testify that Haggis also assaulted her.
“His powerful sworn testimony would be detrimental to Haggis and is contrary to the complete lack of evidence for Haggis’s fake Scientology conspiracy theory.”