Harvey Weinstein’s retrial in New York on a rape charge ended in a mistrial on Friday after the jury deadlocked in the closely watched criminal case that another jury had already failed to decide last year.
The disgraced former Hollywood mogul has been convicted of other sex crimes on the US east and west coasts and is already in jail. But Friday’s declaration of another mistrial leaves the New York rape charge in limbo after three trials.
A majority-male jury in Manhattan had been weighing whether Weinstein raped Jessica Mann, a hairstylist and actor. Weinstein’s lawyers argued that sexual encounter between them was consensual. It happened in 2013 during a fraught relationship between Weinstein, who was married at the time, and Mann, decades his junior.
The signs of stalemate emerged on Friday a few hours into the third day of deliberations. Jurors sent a note saying they “have concluded that they cannot reach” a unanimous verdict. Judge Curtis Farber initially instructed the group to continue deliberating.
An appeals court overturned his 2020 New York conviction on charges that involved Mann and another accuser. At a retrial last year, jury deliberations broke down amid infighting on Mann’s portion of the case, leading to this current retrial. Weinstein is charged with one count of rape in the third degree.
Mann, 40, has testified that she willingly had some sexual interludes with the movie producer, but that he subjected her to unwanted sex that day, after she repeatedly said no.
Weinstein’s lawyers have emphasized that Mann subsequently continued seeing Weinstein after the encounter and expressing warmth toward him. Mann has said she was mired in complicated feelings about him, herself and what had happened.
Her viewpoint changed in 2017, when a series of allegations against Weinstein propelled the #MeToo movement. Some of those accusations generated criminal convictions against Weinstein in New York and California.
Weinstein, 74, has said he “acted wrongly” but never assaulted anyone.
The current jury heard nearly three weeks of testimony, five days of it from Mann. Weinstein did not testify.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted. Mann, however, has agreed to be named.
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, issued a statement saying his prosecution team was disappointed with the outcome but said “we deeply respect the jury system and sincerely thank all of the jurors for their time and dedication.”
Bragg added: “For nearly a decade, Jessica Mann has fought for justice. Over the course of many weeks during three separate trials, she relived unthinkably painful experiences in front of complete strangers. Her perseverance and bravery are inspiring to the members of my office, and more importantly, to survivors everywhere.”
He said his office would consider its next steps in consultation with Mann “and in consideration of Harvey Weinstein’s pending sentencing following last year’s trial conviction for forcibly sexually assaulting Miriam Haley”.
Weinstein was convicted on one count, concerning Haley, and acquitted on a charge involving another woman, after a three-week trial that revived accusations from a successful 2020 prosecution that was overturned on appeal.
Weinstein reported chest pains in court on Wednesday during jury deliberations. He is generally transported to court in a wheelchair and returned to court on Thursday as deliberations continued. He is incarcerated at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City and has been in and out of hospital in the city with heart trouble and other health conditions since his original conviction.
Bragg’s statement concluded: “As always, we will continue to prosecute crimes of sexual violence – no matter who the defendant is – in a survivor-centered manner that uplifts their voices in the pursuit of justice.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting
