Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers push for acquittal as rape retrial nears jury decision

Harvey Weinstein’s defense team urged jurors on Tuesday to bring an end to the #MeToo-era rape case that has now gone to trial three times, arguing that the former Hollywood producer should be found not guilty.

“It’s just not true,” attorney Marc Agnifilo said during closing arguments in the retrial over allegations that Weinstein raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann at a New York hotel in 2013. “She has taken on a false narrative about all of this.”

Prosecutors are expected to make their case later on Tuesday as jurors weigh the complexities of Weinstein and Mann’s years-long relationship.

The two met in early 2013 while Mann was pursuing a career in Hollywood. She testified that she initially expected a professional relationship, was surprised when Weinstein made sexual advances, but ultimately entered into a relationship with the then-married Oscar-winning producer.

A few weeks later, according to Mann, Weinstein abruptly took a room at a hotel where she and a friend were staying. When she accompanied Weinstein upstairs to tell him she didn't want a sexual interlude, she testified, he trapped her in the room, grabbed her arms, insisted she undress, went into the bathroom for a time, and then raped her.

“He just treated me like he owned me,” she testified last month.

Weinstein didn't testify, but his defense contends the encounter was consensual and part of a caring relationship that Mann fostered and leaned on until Weinstein’s #MeToo downfall in 2017, when news reports about allegations against him propelled a global campaign against sexual assault and sexual harassment. He has said he behaved “wrongly” but never assaulted anyone.

He was convicted in 2020 of raping Mann, got the conviction overturned, then saw a jury deadlock on it at a retrial last year.

In summations Tuesday, Agnifilo suggested that parts of Mann's account were ill-supported and implausible, and he underscored the warm email exchanges and continued get-togethers she had with Weinstein before and after the alleged rape.

“Throughout the four years, she is going to Harvey Weinstein for things that she needs, and Harvey Weinstein is doing the best that he can,” by supporting her acting ambitions and giving her emotional support, Agnifilo said. “They are emotionally close. She relies on him. He is a very important person in her life, and she lets him know that.”

Whatever the outcome of the trial, the former movie producer and studio boss still will stand convicted of other sex crimes in New York and California, though he is appealing those convictions.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.