Harvey Weinstein Receives Mixed Partial Verdict As Deliberations Heat Up in Criminal Case
The jury in Harvey Weinstein's criminal trial found him guilty of one count of criminal sexual assault against former Project Runway assistant Miriam Haley, but not guilty of the other count of criminal sexual assault against former model Kaja Sokola.
The jury has yet to reach a verdict on rape in the third degree related to aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Jurors Raise Concerns About Harvey Weinstein Deliberations
Harvey Weinstein's Team Wants the Jury to Believe He's a Scapegoat of #MeToo
Harvey Weinstein Will Not Testify In New York Retrial
Judge Curtis Farber on Wednesday had asked the jury whether they had reached a verdict on any counts, before dismissing them for the day, amid larger concerns about fighting and tensions in the jury room. Weinstein faced one charge of rape in the third degree and two charges of criminal sexual act in the first degree, which is the higher felony charge and carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. Deliberations are expected to resume Thursday on the rape charge.
Haley alleged he forced oral sex on her at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. Aspiring actress Jessica Mann claimed she was raped by Weinstein in 2013 in a Manhattan hotel and Sokola testified Weinstein forcibly had oral sex with her in a hotel in 2006. The jury had been on its fifth day of deliberations, before they came to a halt.
The concerns about jury tensions reached such a fever pitch Wednesday that Weinstein himself asked to address the judge in court. 'Your honor, this is a profile in courage moment for you. This is the fourth time we've heard a complaint from the jury,' Weinstein said.
'This is not right for me, the person who is on trial here,' the former mogul continued. 'This is my life that's on the line, and you know what it's not fair. It's simple. It's just not fair.'
In that regard, Weinstein referred to an earlier complaint from the juror in which he said the jury was discussing elements of his past that were not part of the case.
'I know how it feels because I've been in situations like this in business,' Weinstein then told the judge about the decision to continue the trial. 'I've been in situations where I've wanted to hold on for dear life,' but that was the wrong choice, he added.
Weinstein went on to note that he knows 'judges on a personal level. I know lawyers on a personal level.'
'It's time. It's time. It's time to say this trial is over,' Weinstein said.
Farber denied his request and his attorney Arthur Aidala's earlier request for a mistrial, saying that jury room discussions can get heated.
'Jurors fight. They act childish at times. They get heated,' Farber said. 'I'm not going to allow any injustice to happen to you.'
This came after the foreperson sent a note Wednesday afternoon asking to speak to the judge, after saying out loud in the courtroom, 'I can't go back in there with the other jurors.'
He asked to speak privately with the attorneys and Farber. After returning to court, Farber summed it up saying, 'In a nutshell, there does appear to be some fighting in the jury room.'
'At least one other juror made comments to the effect of 'I'll meet you outside one day,'' Farber said, adding that there had also been yelling and screaming.
'Call 911, protect him! He's asking you to protect him,' Aidala yelled in the courtroom about the juror. 'There's a crime going on in there!'
That was the second time the foreperson has asked to speak to the judge during deliberations. On Monday morning, the foreperson had written the judge a note saying 'I need to talk to you about a situation which isn't very good.' At the time, the foreperson said jurors were considering elements from Weinstein's past that weren't being used as evidence in the trial and weren't part of the charged crimes.
Another juror, who was juror number seven on this case and the youngest on the jury, had asked to address the court twice Friday, first saying he had heard jurors discussing another juror in the courtroom elevators, and then asking to be excused from the jury as he did not feel the process was 'fair,' while staring at the defense table.
All of this comes after Weinstein's 2020 rape and criminal sexual assault conviction was overturned in April 2024 after the court of appeals found the trial prejudiced Weinstein with improper rulings, including allowing women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case.
In the 2020 trial, Weinstein received a mixed verdict with the jury finding Weinstein guilty of the crimes against Haley and Mann, but also acquitting Weinstein of first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault related to other women. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg pursued the retrial of Weinstein shortly after his conviction was overturned.
Sokola was a new addition to Weinstein's case, and a key witness for the prosecution, as she described meeting with Weinstein for lunch at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in 2006 and being invited up to his hotel room to see a script, as she pursued becoming an actress. When she followed him up, she testified that Weinstein asked her to come up to a hotel room to see a script and then forcibly held her down on the bed, removed her stockings and underwear and performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly asked him to stop. But the defense team sought to undermine her testimony by pointing to the fact that Sokola had not told her sister, who was at the lunch, about the assault, and even unveiled a diary from Sokola that did not include the sexual assault.
'I'm very happy about today's verdict. I'm proud of the other two girls, the other two women who testified. It was a extremely difficult journey for all of us to relive our traumas and to go through it in open court. It's a big win for everyone. Harvey Weinstein will be in jail,' Sokola told reporters outside the courthouse.
Haley had testified to meeting Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival and then later getting work from him on Project Runway. He later invited her to a movie premiere in Los Angeles, which she accepted, and then stopped by his apartment before leaving. It was there that she said Weinstein backed her into the bedroom, held her down and forced himself on her orally. Speaking to reporter's outside the courthouse, Haley said the verdict delivered a message to other predators.
'Today's verdict gives me hope. Hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence and that the myth of the perfect victim is fading. And I hope that this result empowers others to speak out and seek justice. To those predators who still believe they can exploit, abuse, and walk away unscathed: Your time is running out. The world is changing. And you will not outrun the consequences of your actions forever,' Haley said.
Both Haley and Sokola had also testified to other unwanted sexual encounters with Weinstein that were not charged in the case, but could be considered as background by the jury. Sokola testified that Weinstein had touched her vagina and put her hand on his penis to masturbate when she was 16.
Before the foreperson brought up his concern, the jury had sent three notes Tuesday afternoon related to the testimony of Mann and another Wednesday afternoon asking for the legal definition of rape in the third degree.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025
Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding"
'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
32 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Weinstein case judge declares mistrial on remaining rape charge as jury foreperson won't deliberate
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein 's sex crimes retrial came to a disjointed end Thursday as the jury foreperson declined to deliberate and the judge declared a mistrial on a remaining rape charge, a day after a split verdict on other charges in the landmark #MeToo-era case. The outcome positions the ex-studio boss for a third New York trial — prosecutors said they're ready to retry the rape count — even as he faces a new sentencing on his sexual assault conviction. Weinstein, 73, denies all the charges. The Oscar-winning movie producer had a blank, drained expression as court officers escorted him out Thursday in his wheelchair. His lawyer said he plans to appeal. 'What happened in that jury room was absolutely improper,' attorney Arthur Aidala said outside court. Weinstein is due back in court July 2 for discussion of retrial and sentencing dates. His first-degree criminal sex act conviction carries the potential for up to 25 years in prison, while the unresolved third-degree rape charge is punishable by up to four years — less than he already has served. He's been behind bars since his initial conviction in 2020, and he later also was sentenced to prison in a separate California case, which he's appealing. In Wednesday's partial verdict, Weinstein was convicted of one criminal sex act charge but acquitted of another. Both concerned accusations of forcing oral sex on women in 2006. Those verdicts still stand. While the jury of seven women and five men was unanimous on those decisions, it got stuck on the rape charge involving another woman, Jessica Mann. The hairstylist and actor testified at length — as she did in 2020 — that Weinstein raped her amid a years-long consensual relationship. 'I will never give up on myself and making sure my voice – and the truth – is heard,' Mann said in a statement Thursday, confirming she's ready to testify yet again. Jury-room strains started leaking into public view Friday, when a juror asked to be excused because he felt another was being treated unfairly. Then Monday, the foreperson complained that other jurors were pushing people to change their minds and talking about information beyond the charges. The man raised concerns again Wednesday, telling the judge he felt afraid in the jury room because another juror was yelling at him for sticking to his opinion and suggested the foreperson would 'see me outside.' When Judge Curtis Farber asked the foreperson Thursday whether he was willing to return to deliberations, the man said said no. And with that, Farber declared a mistrial on the rape count. Two jurors disputed the foreperson's account as they left court. One, Chantan Holmes, said that no one mistreated the man and that she believed he was just tired of deliberating. 'We all felt bad. Because we really wanted to do this. We put our hearts and souls in here,' she said. Another jury member, who identified himself only by his juror number, said the deliberations were contentious, but respectful. Weinstein's 2020 conviction seemed to cement the downfall of one of Hollywood's most powerful men in a pivotal moment for the # MeToo movement. The anti-sexual-misconduct campaign was fueled by allegations against him. But that conviction was overturned last year, and the case was sent back for retrial in the same Manhattan courthouse. Weinstein's accusers said he exploited his Tinseltown influence to dangle career help, get them alone and then trap and force them into sexual encounters. 'These hopeful young women were trying to follow their dreams in a world that he controlled,' Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, said at a news conference Thursday. Weinstein's defense portrayed his accusers as Hollywood wannabes and hangers-on who willingly hooked up with him to court opportunity, then later said they were victimized to collect settlement funds and #MeToo approbation. Miriam Haley, the producer and production assistant whom Weinstein was convicted — twice, now — of sexually assaulting, said outside court Wednesday that the new verdict 'gives me hope.' Accuser Kaja Sokola also called it 'a big win for everyone,' even though Weinstein was acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex on her when she was a 19-year-old fashion model. Her allegation was added to the case after the retrial was ordered. Holmes, the juror who spoke outside court, said the panel all felt Sokola 'wasn't credible.' The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be identified. Haley, Mann and Sokola did so. ___ Associated Press journalists Joseph B. Frederick and Ted Shaffrey contributed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Andy Kaufman Is Me' Review: Solid but Unrevelatory Doc Uses Puppetry to Tackle the Iconic Comic
I've sat through enough duplicative documentaries over the years to know that there's very little harm, but also very little illumination, in viewing multiple projects about Fyre Festival or that ill-fated submarine or Woodstock '99. Just because I watched Alex Braverman's Thank You Very Much, which launched at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, doesn't mean that it's bad to rehash most of the same biographical plot points and pivotal TV appearances of the enigmatic Andy Kaufman in Clay Tweel's new documentary, Andy Kaufman Is Me, premiering at Tribeca. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Surviving Ohio State' Review: HBO's Sexual Abuse Doc Is Thorough and Persuasive, but Lacks a New Smoking Gun 'A Tree Fell in the Woods' Review: Josh Gad and Alexandra Daddario in an Uneven, Occasionally Insightful Relationship Dramedy Jim Sheridan's 'Re-creation' Puts One of Ireland's Most Troubling Murder Cases Back on Trial It happens that the two Andy Kaufman documentaries are nicely complementary texts, featuring basically no overlapping talking heads and landing on mostly different life events as pivotal to Kaufman's development, even if they exert a lot of effort in coming to the same self-evident conclusion: Because so much of Andy Kaufman's life was performance art, and because Andy Kaufman died in 1984, we may never know the real Andy Kaufman — but darned if we aren't going to attempt extremely rudimentary psychiatric analysis in our failed attempt to unravel the mystery. Andy Kaufman Is Me, which at least has a distinctive visual approach that Kaufman probably would have appreciated, is narrowly the better of the two fine documentaries. That said, I think we've hit a brick wall in this thesis on the highly influential, thoroughly unknowable icon. We can maybe wait a decade or two for our next Andy Kaufman documentary, at least until somebody has a fresher idea. Boasting the credit 'Produced in Consultation with The Estate of Andy Kaufman,' Andy Kaufman Is Me absolutely feels like the more 'authorized' documentary. Tweel — and producers including Dwayne Johnson, for whatever reason — is able to build his version of Kaufman's story around extensive interviews with siblings Michael and Carol; Kaufman's own audio journals; and a wide assortment of recorded conversations between biographer Bill Zehme and Kaufman's father Stanley as well as other key figures. The immediacy of these relations and connections contributes warmth and poignancy, but not necessarily deep insight into the man that Kaufman actually became. The Braverman documentary, with its interviews with Kaufman's longtime creative collaborator Bob Zmuda and longtime girlfriend Lynne Margulies, had much better representation from the individuals closest to Kaufman at the peak of his fame and infamy — hence my feeling that these two documentaries nestle nicely into each other, even if there's an inherent staleness to watching people attempt to solve the same riddle over and over again. It's as if Sherlock Holmes had failed to solve the crime in A Study in Scarlet and had spent the rest of his life explaining that he hadn't exactly been wrong, that it was just a really difficult case. Andy Kaufman Is Me doesn't offer much that counts as surprising, but how could it? This documentary has a better perspective, for example, on Kaufman's time at community college and how it shaped his goals, but once his career accelerates, even casual fans know the key beats. He exploded as perhaps the original alt-comedy star, with his off-putting sets that were, as several people observe, more theater than standup. He became a huge sensation thanks to Saturday Night Live and regular late-night appearances that left the various hosts as perplexed as they were amused. With Taxi, he became an even bigger deal, but not really the star he wanted to be, because he was ill-suited for scripted sitcom containment. He alienated friends and fans alike with his alter ego Tony Clifton and with his notorious incursions into the world of wrestling. Then he got cancer and either died or faked his own death, if your participation in the Andy Kaufman Memorial Complex hinges on that conspiratorial interpretation. Tweel's point of entry is Kaufman's semi-autobiographical novel The Huey Williams Story, seeds of which feature heavily in the 84 hours of personal tapes the director was able to acquire. The book was published as a work-in-progress by his brother in 1999, but Tweel treats it as a snapshot into Kaufman's brain, one that can only be captured through puppetry by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. The use of dead-eyed versions of Kaufman and Clifton is suitably eerie and alienating, suggesting that the best way to learn the truth about Andy Kaufman might be to view him through another artificial and fictional remove. The puppetry is whimsical and creepy, connecting well with the ABC special in which Kaufman met Howdy Doody, a pure and beautiful moment that both recent documentaries correctly assess as a mid-career Rosetta Stone. It's a worthwhile aesthetic swing for Tweel to take, but I'm not sure the attempt to give Andy Kaufman Is Me a four-act structure that semi-mirrors the hero's journey in the book adds much, and it never becomes as confrontationally surreal as Kaufman's writing clearly aspired to be. It isn't like Tweel is fully committed to the puppetry and structure anyway. At some point, the documentary just pauses its forward momentum to let people like David Letterman (another executive producer here), Eric Andre and Tim Heidecker explain why Andy Kaufman was influential, which is both completely accurate and completely self-evident in this context. I will never object to spending 100 minutes remembering Kaufman's defining sketches and marveling at the ambitions that his death left unfulfilled. It's time, though, for documentarians to take a break from offering interpretations of Kaufman's life that claim to be unprecedented — at least until one truly is. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Our Hero, Balthazar' Review: Asa Butterfield and Jaeden Martell in an Unnerving Dark Comedy About American Gun Culture
Social media identities, gun laws and the blue state/red state divide are but some of the issues touched on in Our Hero, Balthazar, the zeitgeist-tapping dark comedy receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Alternately disturbing and brutally funny, and ending with the sort of capper that perfectly encapsulates its provocative ethos, this marks an auspicious directorial debut for Oscar Boyson. Not that it's particularly surprising, considering that the tyro director, who co-scripted with Ricky Camilleri, has previously produced such edgy films as Good Time and Uncut Gems. This effort, whose title is a sly riff on Robert Bresson's classic Au Hasard Balthazar, follows in the tradition of those Safdie brothers films that are designed to make you feel uncomfortable. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'State of Firsts' Review: Trans Congresswoman Sarah McBride Steps Into the Spotlight for a Doc That's More Than Your Average Political Puff Piece 'Andy Kaufman Is Me' Review: Solid but Unrevelatory Doc Uses Puppetry to Tackle the Iconic Comic 'Boy George & Culture Club' Review: An Affectionate Look at the '80s Band and Its Flamboyant Frontman That Entertains but Treads Too Carefully The title character, superbly played by Jaeden Martell (It, Knives Out), is the sort of rich Manhattan youngster with an indulgent mother (Jennifer Ehle), his own personal life coach (Noah Centineo), and a tony private school education. Social causes don't interest him, but a fellow classmate, Eleanor (Pippa Knowles), very much does. The two become friendly when they both play victims in a mass shooting simulation at their school, each covered in fake blood. Eleanor's pet cause is gun prevention, so to impress her, Balthazar, or Balthy for short, begins organizing protests and posting emotional videos on the subject online, his acting skills rising to the fore. But Eleanor quickly figures out that he's not really being sincere. 'Are you actually crying?' she asks him after watching one of his tearful videos. 'I think it's nice to be part of a community,' he says. Balthy's postings come to the attention of a young man in Texas, who taunts him and reveals his intention to commit a mass shooting at his school. In a daring stylistic move, the film then segues to introduce us to Balthy's online tormentor, Solomon, an aspiring 'supplement salesman' who doesn't even have any luck attempting to sell the guns his father gave him because they're lacking serial numbers. He's the sort of lost young man who angrily but unconvincingly denies that he's an incel. And he's brilliantly played by Asa Butterfield (Hugo, Sex Education), nearly unrecognizable with blond hair and goatee, in a revelatory performance. Convinced that Solomon will make good on his threat, Balthy impulsively travels to Texas and strikes up an IRL relationship with him, looking like a fish out of water. Despite their obvious differences, the two have a strange rapport, with Solomon teaching the urbanite how to shoot guns and telling him, 'You might be the first person I met who's weirder than me.' Balthy finds himself meeting Solomon's loving, invalid grandmother (the always good Becky Ann Baker) and abusive father (Chris Bauer). He also quickly figures out that Solomon is hardly the threat he claimed to be. 'I thought you were a school shooter!' he exclaims disgustedly. But things inevitably take a darker, violent turn that results in tragedy and a supremely ironic ending. Director Boyson expertly balances satirical social commentary with emotional truth and complex characterizations, infusing the proceedings with a Hal Ashby-style deadpan dark humor. Channeling the anxieties of a younger generation so infused by online culture that they have trouble separating fantasy and reality, Our Hero, Balthazar is very much a film of its moment. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
