Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein will face a retrial starting April 14 on a rape charge that previously deadlocked a jury, his publicist said Wednesday.The judge in last year’s sex crimes trial, itself a partial retrial, declared a mistrial after the jury foreman refused to return to deliberate the case amid a dispute in the jury room.Weinstein was charged with third-degree rape of a woman named Jessica Mann, and will now face a retrial on that charge.
Harvey Weinstein is serving 16 years in prison
In June, a jury convicted Weinstein of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, and acquitted the fallen movie mogul of sexually assaulting Kaja Sokola.Weinstein, 73, who is confined to a wheelchair due to ill health, has already been in prison for 16 years after being convicted in a separate case in California of raping a European actress more than a decade ago.
Harvey Weinstein’s spokesperson issues a statement
“Every time prosecutors asked the jury to convict Harvey Weinstein based on (Mann’s) allegations, they did not reach a unanimous decision,” Weinstein spokesman Judah Engelmayer said.“Mr. Weinstein has always maintained that the relationship was consensual, and we look forward to presenting the evidence again,” Engelmayer added.
Harvey Weinstein and The “Me Too” movement.
The Oscar winner’s conviction is a vindication for Haley, whose complaint partly led to the initial guilty verdict in 2020.
This landmark case helped catalyze the MeToo movement, which saw a wave of allegations from prominent women who had been abused by men.Weinstein suffered a stunning fall from his perch atop the world of Hollywood and show business in 2017 when accusations against him became public.The movement turned the film industry upside down, exposing the systematic exploitation of young women seeking careers in entertainment, and sparking reckonings about how to end a toxic culture.More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct following a global backlash against men who abuse positions of power.Weinstein’s original 2020 conviction, and resulting 23-year prison sentence, was overturned in 2024 after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented.
