Harvey Weinstein Won't Testify In His Own Defense In NYC Sex Crimes Retrial; Jury Deliberations May Start Tuesday
At one point, Harvey Weinstein's lawyers worried aloud their much-ailing client wouldn't make it through his New York rape retrial alive. Now they've decided the much-accused Pulp Fiction producer will conclude the case without saying a word in his own defense.
'He wanted to testify, and we respect that instinct,' Weinstein's longtime spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Deadline this morning after a weekend in which a final decision went back and forth, I hear. '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.'
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This tracks as Weinstein expressed a desire before to testify in both his previous NYC trial and in a 2022 Los Angeles sex crimes case but never did.
With the 73-year-old Weinstein not taking the stand in Judge Curtis Faber's state courtroom, the jury in the retrial that started on April 23 is expected to hear closing arguments from the defense and the Manhattan DA.'s office Tuesday afternoon. If all goes to plan, the defense should rest their case after less than a week by mid-morning tomorrow.
That means it is very likely the jury of seven women and five men will begin their deliberations on Weinstein's East Coast fate as early as the end of the day Tuesday.
Of course, while not testifying, Weinstein has been running a guerrilla PR campaign of sorts during this retrial.
For instance, in a jailhouse interview with Candace Owens, who exited her post at the far-right Daily Wire last year over antisemitic posts and saw her YouTube channel suspended for a spell over the same issue, Weinstein claimed he 'did not commit these crimes.' Facing civil suits all over the nation since the 2017 New York Times exposé of decades of rapes, assaults and more, Weinstein added to Owens last month: '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.'
Leaning into the shifts in society since 2017 and the start of the #MeToo movement, defense attorney Arthur Aidala told the jury during his opening statement in late April that what occurred between his client and accusers Jessica Mann, Miriam Haley and Kaja Sokola were mutual and consensual 'friends with benefits' arrangements.
Having resided at Bellevue Hospital for the past several weeks, as opposed to the dank conditions at Rikers Island, Weinstein's retrial comes from his 23-year sentence from a 2020 rape conviction, which was tossed out in 2024 over much-debated prior 'Bad Acts' testimony the judge allowed at the time. Thanks to some sharp-elbowed NYC politics delivered by the well-connected Aidala, there is a new judge in this retrial. As well there is one additional count of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, which was added to the indictment last September.
Still imprisoned due to his 2022 conviction in LA on sex crimes and sentenced to 16 years, which also is under appeal, Weinstein almost certainly would spend the rest of his life behind bars if found guilty again in the Empire State.
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