Harvey Weinstein has been convicted of one count of committing a criminal sexual act but acquitted on another in his sex crimes retrial in New York City.
The majority-female jury on Wednesday found the former Hollywood producer guilty of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, but acquitted him of a second charge of sexually assaulting Kaja Sokola. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a third count involving Jessica Mann and was told to resume deliberations Thursday morning.
The partial verdict comes after a weeks-long trial that began in April, during which three women testified about the alleged sexual assaults committed by the former Hollywood mogul. Weinstein faced two counts of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree and one count of third-degree rape.
Prior to the mixed verdict, Weinstein himself addressed the court, urging the judge to declare a mistrial as several jurors reported ongoing tensions in the deliberation room.
“This is my life that’s on the line,” Weinstein told Judge Curtis Farber, adding, “I am not getting a fair trial.” Weinstein then told the judge, “You are endangering me, Your Honor.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the jury foreperson in Weinstein’s retrial informed the judge that tensions remained high during deliberations and requested a private meeting with the judge and attorneys to discuss the situation.
In court, Farber conveyed the foreperson’s account, stating that there was infighting among the jurors and that the foreperson was “not going to change his position — whatever that position is.”
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“He did indicate that at least one other juror made comments to the effect of ‘I’ll meet you outside one day,’ and there’s yelling and screaming,” the judge said.
“A crime was committed against this juror,” Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala argued, describing the situation in the deliberation room as “menacing and harassment.”
Aidala added: “Their verdict is all about coercion and threats.”
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, however, argued that the foreperson didn’t seem frightened or apprehensive — just “stubborn.”
“He said he’d made up his mind, he didn’t want to change it, and people were pressuring him to change it,” Colangelo said. “That’s what jury deliberations involve.”
In his 2020 trial, Weinstein was found guilty of sexually abusing Haley and Mann. He was serving a 23-year sentence in New York until those convictions were overturned in April 2024. Weinstein pleaded not guilty to all charges in his retrial; both Haley and Mann testified against him again.
In their testimonies, Haley alleged that Weinstein forcibly sexually assaulted her at his apartment in 2006, while Mann accused him of raping her at a hotel in 2013.
Sokola, who did not testify in Weinstein’s 2020 trial, was first identified by the prosecution during opening arguments in late April. (She was previously referred to as Complaining Witness No. 3.) In her testimony, Sokola described two alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein: one in 2002, when she was 16, and another in a Manhattan hotel in 2006 — the latter being the incident for which Weinstein was charged in the retrial.
In a written statement following the mixed verdict, Sokola said she was “relieved” that Weinstein “will be held accountable for some of his crimes.”
“Harvey Weinstein will remain behind bars and that is a win,” she said. “Coming forward was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I shared my story publicly, I testified under oath, and I relived my trauma, all at a personal cost — so that the world would know the truth.”
Outside the courthouse, Haley told reporters, “I just want to say that I’m so grateful to the jury. The defense set a very disruptive and chaotic tone from the very beginning of this trial, which I suppose is meant to distract the jury from undeniable fact. And I’m so grateful that they saw through the nonsense and the antics.”
Haley continued, “Testifying in the face of constant disruptions, victim-shaming and deliberate attempts to distort 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.”
Weinstein is still serving a separate 16-year prison sentence following his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles.
From Variety US