NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer portrayed him as the falsely accused “original sinner” of the #MeToo era, while a prosecutor told jurors at his sex crimes retrial Tuesday that the former movie mogul preyed on less-powerful women he thought would never speak up.

The two sides took very different tones in their closing arguments, which are due to conclude today. Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, veered into folksy jokes and theatricality — sometimes re-enacting witnesses’ behavior — as he contended that his client engaged in a “courting game,” not crimes. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg, as direct as Aidala was discursive, urged jurors to focus on Weinstein’s accusers and their days of grueling testimony.

The majority-female jury is expected to start deliberations at some point today, inheriting a case that was seen as a #MeToo watershed when Weinstein was convicted five years ago. It ended up being retried, and reshaped, because an appeals court overturned the 2020 verdict.

— The Associated Press