Harvey Weinstein NYC trial judge calls mistrial in accuser Jessica Mann's rape case

Yahoo

3 days ago

Chaos in the jury room led a judge Thursday to call a mistrial for the one remaining charge against disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, a rape allegation by one-time actress Jessica Mann a day after he was found guilty of sexually assault in his Manhattan retrial.
After an eight-week trial in Manhattan Supreme Court, jurors found Weinstein, 73, guilty of criminal sex act against former TV production assistant Miriam Haley, but acquitted him of the same charge against a second accuser, Polish model Kaja Sokola.
But the jury couldn't reach a decision on the third accuser, one-time actress Jessica Mann, and the jury foreman refused to rejoin his fellow jurors after reporting Wednesday that he felt threatened by one of them telling him he'd 'see me outside.'
The mistrial means prosecutors will have to decide whether to pursue Mann's allegations at a third trial, again subjecting her to days of direct testimony and cross-examination on the witness stand. Mann testified at Weinstein's 2020 trial as well.
Deliberations went off the skids when it came to Mann, with the jury foreman asking on three separate occasions to speak to the judge and attorneys away from his fellow jurors.
The foreman on Wednesday told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber that another juror had threatened him, 'You gonna see me outside' during a shouting match, because he wouldn't change his position.
That led to calls for a mistrial by Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, who said the juror was the victim of a crime and the judge should call 911.
Farber released the jury for the day and asked them to return Thursday, but not before asking if they had reached a verdict in any of the charges — and they had, regarding Haley and Sokola.
Later, the foreman told Farber that the jury had reached a decision on Haley and Sokola days earlier, on Friday, and their decision was unanimous. When the judge asked him if he'd been coerced, he said 'no,' and responded, 'My own decision.'
The foreman said he'd be willing to return to the court building, but didn't commit to rejoining his fellow jurors in the jury room.
Mann accused Weinstein of raping her in 2013, but said she maintained a complicated relationship with the film producer for years after. Haley and Sokola said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in separate incidents in 2006.
Weinstein was charged with third-degree rape regarding Mann, which is punishable by up to four years in prison.
The criminal sex act charge he was convicted up is a far more serious offense, and carries a maximum 25-year sentence. Criminal sex act, which used to be called sodomy, involves forced anal or oral sex.
Mann and Haley also took the stand in Weinstein's 2020 trial, which ended in a guilty verdict and a 23-year prison sentence. But last year, the New York State Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, saying the trial judge should have never allowed other women whose allegations were not included in the charges to testify against him and establish a pattern of predatory behavior.
Regardless of the trial's outcome, Weinstein wasn't going to go free — he was sentenced to 16 years behind bars after his conviction at a 2022 trial in Los Angeles on separate rape and sexual assault charges.