Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty of Sexual Assault After Tensions Explode on New York Jury

The movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty on one charge of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree by a Manhattan jury, concluding a three-week trial that revived accusations from a successful 2020 prosecution that was overturned on appeal.

via: Variety

The majority-female jury on Wednesday found the former Hollywood producer guilty of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley. The jury acquitted him of a second charge of sexually assaulting Kaja Sokola. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict as to a third count involving Jessica Mann, and was told they will resume deliberations on 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 producer. Weinstein faced two counts of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree and one count of third-degree rape.

Earlier on Wednesday, Weinstein himself addressed the court, urging the judge to call for a mistrial as several jurors continued to complain about tensions in the deliberation room.

“This is my life that’s on the line,” Weinstein told Judge Curtis Farber in the courtroom, adding, “I am not getting a fair trial.”

Weinstein then told the judge, “You are endangering me, Your Honor.”

Prior to that, the jury foreperson in Weinstein’s retrial informed the judge that tensions remain amid deliberations; the foreperson then requested to speak privately with the judge and the attorneys about the situation.

In the courtroom, Farber relayed what was said by the foreperson, saying that there is fighting happening among the jury, but that the foreperson is “not going to change his position — whatever that position is.” The foreperson claimed that one juror said to him, “I’ll meet you outside one day.”

After the jury left the courtroom to begin deliberations on Thursday morning last week, Weinstein addressed the court, thanking Judge Curtis J. Farber and the court staff, whom he described as “just and fair.”

“I appreciate you all,” Weinstein added.

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.

Weinstein is still serving a separate 16-year prison sentence following his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles.