Harvey Weinstein convicted in Manhattan sexual assault retrial in split verdict

Yahoo

a day ago

NEW YORK — Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was convicted on a sexual assault charge in a split verdict in Manhattan Wednesday, a year after the verdict in his landmark 2020 trial was overturned.
Despite tension among jurors, the panel of seven women and five men found Weinstein guilty after five days of deliberation of conducting a criminal sex act regarding former TV production assistant Miriam Haley, but acquitted him on the same charge regarding Polish model and aspiring actress Kaja Sokola.
The 73-year-old faces up to 25 years in prison on the charge.
Weinstein, 73, faced down Haley, Sokola and one-time actress Jessica Mann over the course of the eight-week Manhattan Supreme Court trial. Each took the stand to describe how the 'Pulp Fiction' producer forced himself on them. Mann accused him of raping her in 2013, while Haley and Sokola said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in separate incidents in 2006.
The jury has not yet reached a verdict on the third-degree rape charge involving Mann, and is scheduled to resume deliberations Thursday.
Outside court, Haley praised the verdict, and said the jury saw through the 'disruptive and chaotic tone' of Weinstein's defense lawyers.
'The truth was exhausting and at times dehumanizing, but 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,' Haley said. 'I hope that this result empowers others to speak out and seek justice.'
Despite the jury finding Weinstein not guilty of her allegations, Sokola said she was 'very happy for this verdict.'
'It's a big win for everyone. Harvey Weinstein will be in jail. He was convicted three times for very serious crimes,' she said. 'For myself, it's closing a chapter that's caused me a lot of pain in my life, and having prosecutors hear my story, go through all the details with me, and believe me and support me, was extremely powerful.'
The partial verdict Wednesday came after a chaotic day in court, with the jury foreman telling the judge that another juror threatened him, 'I'll meet you outside one day,' and with Weinstein himself admonishing the judge to call a mistrial.
The drama in the jury room appears to center on Mann, who testified that Weinstein raped her in 2013 while acknowledging she'd maintained a years-long relationship that included consensual sexual encounters.
'I would never lie about rape or use something so traumatic to hurt someone,' Mann said in a statement Wednesday. 'Rape can happen in relationships – and in dynamics where power and manipulation control the narrative. Some victims survive by appeasing, and many carry deep empathy, even for their abusers. That's part of the trap.'
The 6-foot-2 Weinstein, once a towering persona literally and figuratively in Hollywood, sat in a wheelchair throughout the trial. His health has taken a turn for the worse in recent months — he needed emergency heart surgery in September, and he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, according to multiple reports in October.
Tensions in the jury room boiled into public view several times. On Wednesday, the foreman recounted fighting in the jury room because he wouldn't budge from his position and said he was fearful about continuing.
'I say, 'Listen, when you talk loud to somebody, somebody going come back the same way. He say, 'You don't know. You gonna see me outside. I say, 'You not going to see me outside, you not my family. I am here for do one thing, not for be friendly,'' the foreman said.
'I feel afraid inside there. I can't be inside there.'
Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, demanded a mistrial.
'There's a crime going on in there, menacing and harassment,' he said.
'This jury is clearly tainted,' Aidala said. 'This is as serious as cancer right now.'
Mann and Haley also testified in Weinstein's 2020 trial, which ended in a guilty verdict.
But last year, in a bombshell 4-3 decision, 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.
Even though the trial testimony was limited to the three women's allegation, Weinstein's long history of serial sex abuse allegations, and the #MeToo movement that went viral after those allegations became public in October 2017, hung over the proceedings.
All three women testified about how they received money from a court-ordered victims' settlement fund through the Weinstein Co. bankruptcy, and spoke about how the news accounts of Weinstein's bad deeds spurred them to come forward. The trial judge, Curtis Farber, instructed jurors that they can't use that information to determine Weinstein had a propensity for sexual assault.
Weinstein's lawyers also brought up #MeToo, with defense lawyer Arthur Aidala accusing the women of chasing a payday as the movement picked up steam and seeking out attorneys like prominent sexual assault survivor advocate Gloria Allred, who he described as a 'money lawyer.'
The disgraced movie mogul's defense team painted the women as liars who manipulated Weinstein to 'cut the line' in the entertainment industry, then cashed in with big civil lawsuit settlements.
Assistant D.A. Nicole Blumberg countered in her closing argument that the accusers stayed silent for years, but found the strength to come forward after news accounts revealed Weinstein's long history as a serial sexual abuser in October 2017.
Weinstein, who was serving a 23-year sentence before his 2020 conviction was overturned, is also serving a 16-year term after a Los Angeles jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2022. He has appealed that verdict.
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