Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sex crime in New York retrial
A Manhattan jury found
Harvey Weinstein
guilty on a sex crimes charge on Wednesday in a retrial after a state appeals court last year
overturned the former movie mogul's 2020 conviction
.
Weinstein, once one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, was accused by prosecutors in the case of raping an aspiring actor and assaulting two other women. Weinstein (73) pleaded not guilty and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex.
The jury found Weinstein guilty on one of the three counts he faced, which stemmed from his alleged assault of former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. The jury found Weinstein not guilty of a charge stemming from his alleged assault of Kaja Sokola in 2002 when she was a 16-year-old aspiring actor.
The jury has not yet reached a verdict on the third count, which charges him with raping aspiring actor Jessica Mann in 2013. They will resume deliberations on that count on Thursday. In closing arguments on June 3rd, the prosecution told the 12 jurors that the evidence showed how Weinstein used his power and influence to trap and abuse women.
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The defence countered that the accusers lied on the witness stand out of spite after their consensual sexual encounters with the Oscar-winning producer failed to result in Hollywood stardom. Jurors reached their partial verdict on the fifth day of sometimes fractious deliberations. The retrial began on April 23rd. Weinstein has had a litany of health problems and attended the retrial in a wheelchair. A jury had in February 2020 found Weinstein guilty of raping Ms Mann and sexually assaulting Ms Haley. Ms Sokola's allegation was not part of that case.
The conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men.
But the New York court of appeals, the state's highest court, threw out that conviction in April 2024. It said the trial judge erred by letting women testify that Weinstein had assaulted them, though their accusations were not the basis of the criminal charges. Though the 2020 conviction was thrown out, Weinstein has remained behind bars because of his 2022 rape conviction in California, which resulted in a 16-year prison sentence. He is appealing that verdict.
More than 100 women, including famous actors, have accused Weinstein of misconduct.
The retrial was handled by prosecutors with the office of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. They 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.
The defence rejected that characterisation, saying Weinstein engaged in 'mutually beneficial' relationships with his accusers, who ended up with auditions and other show business opportunities.
Weinstein cofounded the Miramax studio, whose hit movies included Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction. His own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, five months after sexual misconduct accusations against him became widely publicised. Weinstein has experienced several health episodes while being held at New York City's Rikers Island jail, and in September was rushed to a hospital for emergency heart surgery. – Reuters
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