Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sex assault in split verdict as jury deadlocks over rape charge & acquits on 3rd count

The Sun

a day ago

A JURY has reached a split verdict in the landmark retrial of disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Jurors convicted Weinstein, 73, of one of the two criminal sexual assault counts he was facing, but were deadlocked on the rape charge.
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Weinstein was given a new trial after last year's bombshell decision to overturn his 2020 conviction in New York for rape and sexual assault.
The shocking ruling by a New York Appeals Court set in motion the retail, which began on April 23.
Following five days of deliberation, the 12-person jury convicted Weinstein of engaging in a criminal sex act with actress Mimi Haley.
However, jurors acquitted the ailing Weinstein of engaging in a criminal sex act with model Kaja Sokola.
The jury was deadlocked on the rape charge against Weinstein, who allegedly sexually assaulted actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
Judge Curtis Farber dismissed jurors for the day but informed them that they will reconvene on Thursday to continue deliberating on the rape count.
The disgraced Miramax founder denied all allegations throughout the case as his lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said during closing statements that "he's the one being abused."
Five years after his initial sentencing, a new alleged victim came forward to testify in the retrial.
Model Sokola took the stand for the first time as she accused Weinstein of forcing oral sex on her in 2006.
The ailing movie mogul was convicted by a jury in Los Angeles in 2022 for several counts of sexual assault and sentenced to 16 years.
No matter the outcome of the New York retrial Weinstein would still remain jailed on those charges.
Aidala ended his closing statements by insisting that Weinstein's relationships with the women were "transactional" and that they were all angry that their film careers failed.
"If this guy wasn't Harvey Weinstein, would we even be here?' Aidala asked the jury.
District Attorney Nicole Blumberg argued that Weinstein was never interested in the victims' careers - only their bodies.
"The defense is no victim in this case — and to suggest otherwise is offensive," Blumberg said.
Weinstein was serving a 23-year sentence in New York when his conviction was overturned last April.
Officials ruled that the trial made an error by allowing irrelevant testimonies from three additional accusers.
This time around, Weinstein said he wanted to take the stand in the trial to defend himself.
However, his lawyers shot down the idea, just like they did during his original trial in New York City.
While Weinstein awaited his verdict, he gave a rare interview to Fox 5's Good Day New York anchor Rosanna Scotto where he said he understood why he was blocked from testifying.
"I'm not afraid of the DA, but this was the best advice and this is the advice you often hear: don't take the stand if you don't have to," Weinstein said.
'He wanted to testify, and we respect that instinct,' Weinstein's spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Deadline on Monday.
'At this stage, doing so would subject him to scrutiny far beyond the scope of the current charges — raising issues that could unfairly damage his credibility. Our position is one of caution, not evasion.'
CANDACE OWENS INTERVIEW
While he wasn't allowed to testify, he proclaimed his innocence from prison in a bizarre recent interview with right-wing political commentator Candace Owens last month.
Weinstein said he "made mistakes," but that he never committed any crime.
"I hurt my family. I hurt my friends. I cheated on my wife, and that was a mistake, a terrible mistake," he told Owens in his first on-camera interview in eight years.
"But I did not commit these crimes. I swear that before God and the people watching now and on my family. I'm wrongfully accused.
"But justice has to know the difference between what is immoral and what is illegal."
Weinstein said the sex scandal has left him friendless and alone.
'They are frightened to death. They are frightened that they're going to be canceled, that they're not going to be able to work," he said about his former friends.
"I tried to get my people to stand up and even testify in the trial. And nothing."
Harvey Weinstein Trial Timeline
October 5, 2017 - An explosive story by New York Times reports Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein reached legal settlements with eight women who accused him of sexual harassment spanning over three decades. The piece sparks an avalanche of sexual assault allegations against him. Weinstein is fired from his own company, his wife leaves him, and the #MeToo movement is born.
October 10, 2017 - The New Yorker magazine releases a story detailing other accusations against Weinstein.
May 25, 2018: Weinstein is arrested on charges of first and third degree rape for one victim, and first-degree criminal sex act for another, later revealed to be marketing executive Lucia Evans. The woman who claims she was raped by Weinstein in 2013 has not been publicly identified. Weinstein is released after appearing in Manhattan Criminal Court and handing over his passport and a $1 million cashier's check to cover his bail.
May 25, 2018 - Weinstein is arrested on charges of first and third degree rape for one victim and a first-degree criminal sex act for another. He is released after paying $1 million bail.
May 30, 2018 - Weinstein is indicted on the sex crimes charges.
June 5, 2018 - He pleads not guilty to all charges against him.
July 2, 2018 - A Manhattan grand jury charges Weinstein with additional sex crimes, including two counts of predatory sexual assault and one count of criminal sexual assault.
October 11, 2018 - Prosecutors drop one of the six charges against Weinstein.
January 6, 2020 - The Los Angeles district attorney charges Weinstein with raping an Italian model in 2013.
February 24, 2020 - Weinstein is found guilty in his Manahttan trial of criminal sexual assault and rape in the third degree. He is sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York.
December 19, 2022 - A jury in Los Angeles convicts him of three of seven counts of sexual assault.
February 23, 2023 - Weinstein is sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape in his Los Angeles trial.
April 25, 2024 - In a bombshell decision, his New York conviction is overturned and a new trial is ordered.
April 23, 2025 - Weinstein's retrial begins in New York with new accuser Kaja Sokola taking the stand.
Owens asked Weinstein about Gwyneth Paltrow, who previously said the exec had made a pass at her in a hotel room that sparked Brad Pitt, her boyfriend at the time, to tell him to leave her alone.
Weinstein slammed Paltrow's story as a "fabrication."
'At the end of the meeting, we had a glass of Champagne. As I was walking out the door, I said to her, 'I'd love you to give me a massage,'" Weinstein said.
He said Paltrow didn't have much of a response as she left the hotel.
"That was it. I didn't put my hand on her. I didn't touch her. I definitely made a pass. I guess, you know, you could call it that, but that was the sum total of that situation,' he said.
Later in the interview, Weinstein spoke more casually about how he's kept himself busy in prison after he "decided to do my high school curriculum over."
"You know, if I wasn't in prison, I wouldn't have read those books again,' he said, adding that he wants to remake a movie of Farewell to Arms.
TKTKTKWeinstein's sentencing hearing has been set for XXXX.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network) at 800-656-HOPE (4673).