Latest news with #JessicaMann
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein's next retrial could happen this fall
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein faces sentencing and a possible retrial in his New York City sex crimes case. Manhattan Judge Curtis Farber said that he could sentence Weinstein on 30 September, but only if there's no retrial on a rape charge that the last jury failed to decide. If there is a retrial, the judge wants it to happen this fall. Weinstein, 73, was convicted in June of forcing oral sex on TV and movie production assistant and producer Miriam Haley in 2006. The charge carries a possible sentence of up to 25 years in prison. At the same time, the same jury acquitted him of forcing oral sex on model Kaja Sokola, but couldn't decide a charge that he raped hairstylist and actress Jessica Mann in 2013. Manhattan prosecutors reiterated on Wednesday that they and Mann are ready for another trial on the rape charge. In this case, any conviction is punishable by up to four years in prison. Prosecutors requested a January trial date, but Farber proposed the fall. 'The case needs to be tried this year,' Farber said. Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala agreed, urging the judge to set the earliest possible date. If a fall trial happens, it would likely put Weinstein's high-profile #MeToo case back in court as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is in the final stage of his reelection bid. Bragg, a first-term Democrat who made prosecuting sex crimes cases a priority, has expressed satisfaction with Weinstein's conviction on a criminal sex act charge related to Haley. Bragg has said Mann deserves a verdict on her part of the case. 'This work, first and foremost, is about the survivors, and that's why we're prepared to go forward," Bragg said in June. Weinstein also stands convicted of sex crimes in California. He is appealing that verdict and continued to deny all of the allegations against him.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Prosecutors look to try Harvey Weinstein for third time on sexual assault charge
New York prosecutors are looking to try Harvey Weinstein for a third time on a sexual assault charge on which a jury failed to reach a decision earlier this summer but which had succeeded in 2020 before being vacated by an appeals court. New York judge Curtis Farber said on Wednesday he wants a charge involving actor Jessica Mann as the alleged victim to be tried again before the end of this year, though prosecutors indicated they would not be ready for trial until 2026. The news was first reported by NBC News. Weinstein, 67, faces sentencing next month after being convicted in June of assaulting Miriam Haley in 2006, but that sentencing hearing may only go ahead if there is no retrial on the Mann rape charge. In June, a jury failed to reach a verdict on a charge that Weinstein raped Mann. In 2020, a jury found that Weinstein had raped Mann in 2013, but that verdict, along with the guilty verdict on a charge that he sexually assaulted Haley, were overturned. At the retrial, Weinstein, 73, was found guilty on one count of sexually assaulting Haley. He was cleared of assaulting a third named victim, Kaja Sokola, also in 2006, and Weinstein's lawyers insisted the encounters with all three accusers were 'transactional' and 'consensual'. The jury could not decide on the case involving Mann. A spokesperson for Weinstein said on Wednesday that the bid to retry Weinstein on a single charge of third-degree rape of Mann was likely a bid by prosecutors to force his client into entering a guilty plea. 'At some point this becomes a little too much,' said Juda Engelmayer. 'The prosecution had a hard time making their case last time, and they'll have a hard time the next time around. Harvey is more than ready for his next day in court if it comes.' Weinstein's sentencing in the Haley case is set for 30 September, Judge Farber said, but that will not go ahead until Weinstein is tried again on the charge relating to Mann. Weinstein has consistently denied all of the charges against him. He is currently in custody in New York at Rikers Island jail awaiting a post-conviction hearing scheduled for Friday, at which allegations of juror misconduct may be brought up. Weinstein did not testify at his first two trials in New York, or in a separate trial in Los Angeles on sexual assault charges. That case is under appeal. In 2020, at his original trial, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after being found guilty of two sex crimes. The women named have chosen to be publicly identified. He remains imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges involving one of the women who testified in the New York case. He denies the allegations against him. Associated Press contributed to this report
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Harvey Weinstein to be tried a third time for rape charge
Harvey Weinstein will face a New York jury for a third time after his rape conviction was overturned and jurors failed to reach a verdict at his second trial. Last month, the film mogul was found guilty of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley, and not guilty of sexually assaulting Polish model Kaja Sokola. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on his charge of rape against the aspiring actress Jessica Mann. Weinstein denies the rape charge. Ms Mann previously said she would repeatedly testify until 'justice' was served. 'I have told the district attorney I am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served,' she said, after a mistrial in her case was declared. 'Today is not the end of my fight.' Weinstein was serving a 23-year Sentence in a prison in up-state Rome, New York, when the 2020 conviction for rape and a criminal sexual act was overturned. Weinstein was found guilty of several counts of sexual assault, including rape, in a Los Angeles trial in 2022. The California conviction and 16-year prison sentence still stands. After the rape conviction was thrown out in April 2024, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, opted to charge Weinstein again almost immediately. During the trial, prosecutors sought to show Weinstein used his power in Hollywood to sexually assault and 'exert enormous control' over the three women, all of whom were seeking work in the film and television industry. He was accused of abusing them in hotel rooms between 2006 and 2013, using his power and influence to manipulate his victims into keeping quiet. Justice Curtis Farber had initially said that the jury would continue its deliberations over the rape charge after failing to reach a verdict. Trial beset with jury issues The six-week trial, which Weinstein, suffering a litany of health issues, sat through in a wheelchair was beset with jury issues. Earlier on in the trial, the foreman had shared with the judge that he was concerned about 'something going on in the jury room' and one person was being treated unfairly by the group of five women and seven men. The judge subsequently met privately with one person on the 12-member jury referred to as Juror One. The judge then stated in open court that there had been 'fighting' in the jury room. 'Juror One has made it very clear that he is not going to change his position,' Mr Farber said, adding that Juror One did not tell him what his position was. 'He indicated that at least one other juror made comments to the juror that, 'I'll meet you outside one day', and there's yelling and screaming.' Weinstein will be sentenced over his conviction relating to Ms Haley on Sept 30.
CBS News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Prosecutors ready to move forward with Harvey Weinstein retrial, they say
Prosecutors said Wednesday they are ready to proceed with a third retrial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein will face a trial on a third-degree rape charge related to Jessica Mann, who alleges Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013. The third trial will take place after Weinstein's second trial ended with a partial verdict, and a mistrial. Weinstein was convicted of criminal sexual act against Miriam Haley and found not guilty of criminal sexual act against Kaja Sokola. The deliberations in that case were contentious from the start, with a juror asking to be removed over claims that some jurors were acting unfairly. That was followed by multiple requests by the defense to declare a mistrial over potential juror misconduct. This will be the third time Weinstein will face trial in New York. New York's highest court overturned Weinstein's 2020 conviction last year, ruling the judge in his first trial should not have allowed testimony from accusers who were not part of the criminal charges. Mann alleges Weinstein raped her during a consensual relationship that continued for years afterward, telling the jury she "compartmentalized" the pain he caused. Weinstein's lawyers emphasized she kept seeing him, accepting invitations and sending him messages. "Rape can happen in relationships -- and in dynamics where power and manipulation control the narrative," Mann said in a statement after the second trial ended in a mistrial. Weinstein, 73, was wheeled into court Wednesday wearing a glasses and a navy blazer. His third trial "needs to be tried this year," the judge told attorneys. Prosecutors said they do not expect the third trial to take long. Weinstein will be back in court on Sept. 30 for a hearing to either set a trial date, or a sentencing date. Weinstein continues to appeal his 2022 sexual assault conviction in Los Angeles, where he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Sky News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Harvey Weinstein to be tried for third time in New York after mistrial on rape charge
Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case. A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared. Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year. The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year. Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley's case on 30 September. He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were "transactional" and "consensual," and labelled the women as opportunists. Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes. Last year, however, New York's highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein's retrial this summer. Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood - the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game. In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement. Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California. Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
