Jury dispute triggers mistrial on Harvey Weinstein rape charge
The judge in the Harvey Weinstein sex crimes retrial declared a mistrial on the outstanding rape charge against the movie producer Thursday, after the jury foreperson refused to return to deliberate the count amid a jury room feud.
"Deliberations became heated to such a degree I am obligated to declare a mistrial on the one count on which you didn't reach a verdict," judge Curtis Farber told the jury panel.
On Wednesday, the jury convicted Weinstein for sexual assault on Miriam Haley, and acquitted the fallen movie mogul for allegedly sexually assaulting Kaja Sokola.
They were unable to reach a verdict on the charge that Weinstein raped Jessica Mann, and a retrial on that count will follow at a future date.
Weinstein is already in jail for a 16-year term after he was convicted in a separate California case of raping a European actress more than a decade ago.
Proceedings in New York have been dogged by personal issues between jurors, two of whom have privately complained to the judge about the conduct of fellow panelists.
The foreman had told the judge Curtis Farber he could not continue after facing threats.
"One other juror made comments to the effect 'I'll meet you outside one day'," the judge said Wednesday quoting the foreman, adding there was yelling between jurors.
After Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala demanded a mistrial over the jury rupture, Weinstein himself addressed the court, deploying a commanding voice reminiscent of the heyday of his Hollywood power.
- 'Threats, violence, intimidation' -
"We've heard threats, violence, intimidation -- this is not right for me... the person who is on trial here," he said.
The Oscar-winner's conviction on the Haley charge is a vindication for Haley whose complaint in part led to the initial guilty verdict in 2020.
That landmark case helped spur the "MeToo" movement that saw an outpouring of allegations from prominent women who were abused by men.
Weinstein underwent a spectacular fall from his position at the top of the world of Hollywood and show business in 2017 when allegations against him exploded into public.
The movement upended the film industry, exposing systemic exploitation of young women seeking to work in entertainment, and provoking a reckoning on how to end the toxic culture.
More than 80 women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in the wake of the global backlash against men abusing positions of power.
Weinstein's original 2020 conviction, and the resulting 23-year prison term, was thrown out last year after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented.
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