Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial ended in a mistrial Friday after the jury deadlocked. This is the third trial for the New York rape case.
Weinstein, whose decades-long history of alleged sexual assault upended the entertainment industry and inspired the #MeToo movement, has been convicted of other sex crimes in New York and Los Angeles and is incarcerated in a Rikers Island facility in Queens. According to the Associated Press, Weinstein appeared expressionless after the mistrial was announced and court officers escorted him out in his wheelchair.
A majority-male jury spent three days deliberating the rape charge against Weinstein. Jessica Mann, a hairstylist and aspiring actor, said the rape happened at a Manhattan DoubleTree hotel in 2013. Weinstein’s defense argued that the sexual encounter between Mann and the then-married Weinstein was consensual.
Weinstein was initially convicted of assaulting Mann in 2020, but that verdict, along with another charge, was overturned in April 2024. In a second New York trial last summer, Weinstein was convicted of forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley and acquitted of the same regarding former model Kaja Sokola. The jury was hung on a third charge of raping Mann.
On Friday, a few hours into the third day of deliberations, jurors sent Judge Curtis Farber a note saying they “have concluded that they cannot reach” a unanimous verdict. Judge Farber instructed the group to continue deliberating. Jurors returned to their closed-door discussions and emerged more than an hour later with another note, reading, “We feel that no one is going to change where they stand.”
A hearing was set for June 24 to learn whether prosecutors will go to a fourth trial for the rape charge.
Marc Agnifilo, the high-profile criminal defense attorney hired by Weinstein earlier this year and known for representing Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs, told The Times in an emailed statement, “We are confident the DA will not pursue a fourth trial of these demonstrably meritless allegations.”
District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg said in a statement that his office will consider next steps in “consultation with Ms. Mann, and in consideration of Harvey Weinstein’s pending sentencing following last year’s trial conviction for forcibly sexually assaulting Miriam Haley.”
“For nearly a decade, Jessica Mann has fought for justice. Over the course of many weeks during three separate trials, she relived unthinkably painful experiences in front of complete strangers,” Bragg said. “Her perseverance and bravery are inspiring to the members of my office, and more importantly, to survivors everywhere.”
Mann told The Times in an emailed statement that Friday’s decision to declare a mistrial “doesn’t in any way detract from the truth I told and the violent crimes Harvey Weinstein committed upon me and so many others.”
Mann said she chose to testify in three trials because she is telling the truth.
“For years I have had to relive some of the hardest moments of my life while facing attempts to shame, humiliate and discredit me in open court,” Mann continued. “I submitted myself to the highest standards, transparency, and accountability in coming forward through the justice system — choosing integrity even when the process flayed me open.
“The power of predators remains too great. I deserve justice, which is why I stand up and face unbearable public scrutiny in the name of a greater good — a world where predators are not in power.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com ’
