Harvey Weinstein Granted Mistrial For Third Time
The New York judge overseeing the sex crimes trial of Harvey Weinstein on Friday declared a mistrial after the jury said continuing deliberations wouldn’t return a unanimous verdict.
The decision to grant Weinstein’s bid for a mistrial followed a stalemate in which jurors remained deadlocked in the third trial over the rape charge in New York. They deliberated for three days.
Prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether to pursue another retrial on a charge of the third-degree rape of Jessica Mann.
In a statement, Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Weinstein, urged the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to “stop retrying the same case and focus its time and resources on the actual violent crime, chaos, and public safety issues impacting New Yorkers every day.” He added, “After hearing the evidence multiple times and seeing two juries unable to reach unanimity, it’s clear there is significant reasonable doubt here.”
If convicted, Weinstein faced a sentence of up to four years. He’s already served more time in prison than the charge carries, though he’s less than halfway through his 16-year term in California and has yet to be sentenced for the sexual assault charge he was convicted of last year in New York. Judge Curtis Farber has said he would sentence him after a decision on the remaining count is reached.
During the trial, Mann testified that Weinstein raped her in 2013 at a Manhattan hotel. She described him holding the door shut as she tried to leave, after which he told her to undress and had penetrative sex with her.
The defense maintained that the encounter was consensual, highlighting friendly notes Mann wrote at the time to the disgraced producer. Across the three trials, she’s been pressed about her relationship with Weinstein, which included consensual sex.
At a trial last year, a New York jury acquitted Weinstein of sexually assaulting Kaja Sokola. The verdict came after New York’s highest court in 2024 overturned his rape conviction in a landmark ruling that some called a referendum of the shortcomings of the #MeToo movement. A seven-judge panel of the state Courts of Appeals, in a 4-3 decision, found that the “trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts” in what amounted to an “abuse of judicial discretion.”
In California, a jury in 2023 found Weinstein guilty of three counts — forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and penetration by foreign object — against Jane Doe 1. He was acquitted of sexual battery by restraint against Jane Doe 3. The jury couldn’t reach a decision on the charges Weinstein faced of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation against Jane Doe 4, who revealed herself as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and sexual battery by restraint against Jane Doe 2. Jurors voted to convict him eight to four on charges related to Jane Doe 4 and 10 to two on the charge related to Jane Doe 2. The conviction is on appeal.
Pointing to the mistrial on Friday, Agnifilo stressed that the result shows “how deeply public perception and prejudice surrounding Harvey Weinstein have become embedded in society.”
“For some people, regardless of the evidence presented, saying ‘not guilty’ has become emotionally or socially impossible,” he said. His defense team included Teny Geragos and Jacob Kaplan.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, Weinstein acknowledged there were power imbalances in relationships with his accusers but that he never raped them. “I know I can be scary and difficult. But that’s still a long way from sexual assault,” he said. “Over-flirtation, ridiculous situations. Bad and stupid behavior. Yes. But I didn’t push anybody. I didn’t physically move anybody. I didn’t do that.”
Weinstein, 74, will await a decision on another retrial as his health declines. He suffers from numerous conditions, including bone marrow cancer, chronic myeloid leukemia and coronary artery disease. “I’m dying here,” he said in the interview with THR. “And the DA’s idea is probably to have me dying in prison. But I am dying.”
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe Sign Up
Схожі новини
Drake’s Best ‘Iceman’ Lyrics, From ‘Make Them Cry’ to ‘Make Them Know’
Guillaume Canet’s ‘Karma,’ Starring Marion Cotillard, Earns 6-Minute Ovation at Cannes Premiere
NFL Responds To TV Broadcaster Gripes, Shared By Donald Trump, About Games Shifting To Streaming
