Jury begins deliberating in Weinstein's rape retrial
Jurors in Harvey Weinstein's rape and sexual assault retrial have begun deliberating in a Manhattan court, after a judge instructed them to weigh for themselves the credibility of the three accusers that the defence has said lied about their encounters with the once-powerful movie mogul.
The Academy Award-winning producer and Miramax studio co-founder is accused of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and assaulting two other women in 2006 and 2002.
Weinstein, who has denied ever having non-consensual sex or assaulting anyone, has pleaded not guilty.
The trial began in April.
Weinstein, 73, is on trial for a second time after a New York state appeals court threw out his conviction in April 2024.
He faces up to 25 years in prison for two counts of criminal sexual acts and up to four years for one count of rape.
After the jury was sent to deliberate, Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a dark grey suit, thanked New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber and the court staff.
"I have been treated incredibly fairly," he said.
Weinstein's defence lawyer Arthur Aidala moved for a mistrial earlier on Thursday morning, because Farber replaced a juror who called in sick with an alternate.
The judge denied the motion.
Weinstein is already serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty in December 2022 of rape in California.
Two days of closing arguments wrapped up on Wednesday, and Farber will instruct the 12 jurors on the law before handing them the case.
Prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who promised career advancement in Hollywood to women, only to then coax them into private settings where he attacked them.
"He held the golden ticket, the chance to make it or not. He made each of these women feel small, no match for the power broker of Hollywood," prosecutor Nicole Blumberg told jurors on Wednesday.
Weinstein's defence lawyers have said his encounters with the women were consensual and accused them of lying about being raped after failing to make it big in Hollywood by sleeping with him.
"They are lying about what happened. Not about everything, but about a small slice - just enough to turn their regret, their buyers' remorse, into criminality," Aidala told jurors on Tuesday.
Weinstein was convicted of rape by a Manhattan jury in February 2020, but the New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial, citing errors by the trial judge.
Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York, when the conviction was overturned.
That conviction was a milestone for the MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men.
Weinstein has been held at New York City's Rikers Island jail since his conviction was overturned.
He has had several health scares while being held at Rikers, and in September was rushed to a hospital for emergency heart surgery.
Miramax studio produced many hit movies in its heyday, including Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction.
Weinstein's own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, five months after the original sexual misconduct accusations became widely publicised.
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A juror in Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial has asked to be removed from the case because he felt his fellow jurors were treating a member of their panel in an "unfair and unjust" way, but the judge told him he had to keep deliberating. Judge Curtis Farber later on Friday denied a defence request for a mistrial, saying he believed the juror was simply expressing discomfort in the deliberation process, noting that he's the youngest on the 12-person panel. "This is nothing other than normal tensions during heated deliberations," Farber told the lawyers after the juror rejoined his peers. "Perhaps his youth makes him uncomfortable with conflict." The second day of deliberations ended on Friday without a verdict. Jurors are expected back in court Monday. Jurors reheard testimony from Weinstein's three accusers. They also reviewed other evidence, including medical records and emails. Twice on Friday, though, a juror requested to address the court without the other jurors present. The juror said he wanted to be excused from the trial because he was uncomfortable with how some jurors were acting toward another juror. But Farber denied the request, saying there were no more alternate jurors to replace him and, in any case, his concerns did not warrant being dismissed. The juror insisted, calling the treatment "unfair and unjust" even as he described the tension as "playground stuff" with jurors shunning another juror and talking behind their back. Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala argued the jury should be told to stop deliberating while the court found out more about the concerns. He criticised the judge's questions to the concerned juror as "anaemic at best". "You didn't ask him one follow-up question," Aidala said. Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said the judge acted appropriately by reminding jurors about the expectations for them — including that they not speak to anyone about the case unless all members of the jury are deliberating. The issue, she noted, does not appear to be hindering the jury's work, as the panel requested a readout of other testimony even after he raised concerns. Sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein propelled the #MeToo movement in 2017. The jury of seven women and five men is considering two counts of criminal sex act and one count of rape against the 73-year-old Oscar-winning movie producer, with the criminal sex act charges the higher-degree felonies. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty. Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes in New York and California, but the New York conviction was overturned in 2024, leading to the retrial before a new jury and a different judge. Jurors heard more than five weeks of testimony, including lengthy testimony from three accusers. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 A juror in Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial has asked to be removed from the case because he felt his fellow jurors were treating a member of their panel in an "unfair and unjust" way, but the judge told him he had to keep deliberating. Judge Curtis Farber later on Friday denied a defence request for a mistrial, saying he believed the juror was simply expressing discomfort in the deliberation process, noting that he's the youngest on the 12-person panel. "This is nothing other than normal tensions during heated deliberations," Farber told the lawyers after the juror rejoined his peers. "Perhaps his youth makes him uncomfortable with conflict." The second day of deliberations ended on Friday without a verdict. Jurors are expected back in court Monday. Jurors reheard testimony from Weinstein's three accusers. They also reviewed other evidence, including medical records and emails. Twice on Friday, though, a juror requested to address the court without the other jurors present. The juror said he wanted to be excused from the trial because he was uncomfortable with how some jurors were acting toward another juror. But Farber denied the request, saying there were no more alternate jurors to replace him and, in any case, his concerns did not warrant being dismissed. The juror insisted, calling the treatment "unfair and unjust" even as he described the tension as "playground stuff" with jurors shunning another juror and talking behind their back. Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala argued the jury should be told to stop deliberating while the court found out more about the concerns. He criticised the judge's questions to the concerned juror as "anaemic at best". "You didn't ask him one follow-up question," Aidala said. Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said the judge acted appropriately by reminding jurors about the expectations for them — including that they not speak to anyone about the case unless all members of the jury are deliberating. The issue, she noted, does not appear to be hindering the jury's work, as the panel requested a readout of other testimony even after he raised concerns. Sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein propelled the #MeToo movement in 2017. The jury of seven women and five men is considering two counts of criminal sex act and one count of rape against the 73-year-old Oscar-winning movie producer, with the criminal sex act charges the higher-degree felonies. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty. Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes in New York and California, but the New York conviction was overturned in 2024, leading to the retrial before a new jury and a different judge. Jurors heard more than five weeks of testimony, including lengthy testimony from three accusers. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 A juror in Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial has asked to be removed from the case because he felt his fellow jurors were treating a member of their panel in an "unfair and unjust" way, but the judge told him he had to keep deliberating. Judge Curtis Farber later on Friday denied a defence request for a mistrial, saying he believed the juror was simply expressing discomfort in the deliberation process, noting that he's the youngest on the 12-person panel. "This is nothing other than normal tensions during heated deliberations," Farber told the lawyers after the juror rejoined his peers. "Perhaps his youth makes him uncomfortable with conflict." The second day of deliberations ended on Friday without a verdict. Jurors are expected back in court Monday. Jurors reheard testimony from Weinstein's three accusers. They also reviewed other evidence, including medical records and emails. Twice on Friday, though, a juror requested to address the court without the other jurors present. The juror said he wanted to be excused from the trial because he was uncomfortable with how some jurors were acting toward another juror. But Farber denied the request, saying there were no more alternate jurors to replace him and, in any case, his concerns did not warrant being dismissed. The juror insisted, calling the treatment "unfair and unjust" even as he described the tension as "playground stuff" with jurors shunning another juror and talking behind their back. Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala argued the jury should be told to stop deliberating while the court found out more about the concerns. He criticised the judge's questions to the concerned juror as "anaemic at best". "You didn't ask him one follow-up question," Aidala said. Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said the judge acted appropriately by reminding jurors about the expectations for them — including that they not speak to anyone about the case unless all members of the jury are deliberating. The issue, she noted, does not appear to be hindering the jury's work, as the panel requested a readout of other testimony even after he raised concerns. Sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein propelled the #MeToo movement in 2017. The jury of seven women and five men is considering two counts of criminal sex act and one count of rape against the 73-year-old Oscar-winning movie producer, with the criminal sex act charges the higher-degree felonies. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty. Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes in New York and California, but the New York conviction was overturned in 2024, leading to the retrial before a new jury and a different judge. Jurors heard more than five weeks of testimony, including lengthy testimony from three accusers. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 A juror in Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial has asked to be removed from the case because he felt his fellow jurors were treating a member of their panel in an "unfair and unjust" way, but the judge told him he had to keep deliberating. Judge Curtis Farber later on Friday denied a defence request for a mistrial, saying he believed the juror was simply expressing discomfort in the deliberation process, noting that he's the youngest on the 12-person panel. "This is nothing other than normal tensions during heated deliberations," Farber told the lawyers after the juror rejoined his peers. "Perhaps his youth makes him uncomfortable with conflict." The second day of deliberations ended on Friday without a verdict. Jurors are expected back in court Monday. 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Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said the judge acted appropriately by reminding jurors about the expectations for them — including that they not speak to anyone about the case unless all members of the jury are deliberating. The issue, she noted, does not appear to be hindering the jury's work, as the panel requested a readout of other testimony even after he raised concerns. Sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein propelled the #MeToo movement in 2017. The jury of seven women and five men is considering two counts of criminal sex act and one count of rape against the 73-year-old Oscar-winning movie producer, with the criminal sex act charges the higher-degree felonies. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty. Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes in New York and California, but the New York conviction was overturned in 2024, leading to the retrial before a new jury and a different judge. Jurors heard more than five weeks of testimony, including lengthy testimony from three accusers. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
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