A JURY has reached a split verdict in the landmark retrial of disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Jurors convicted Weinstein, 73, of one of the two criminal sexual assault counts he was facing and acquitted him of the other, but they were deadlocked on the rape charge.
Weinstein was given a new trial after last year’s bombshell decision to overturn his 2020 conviction in New York for rape and sexual assault.
The shocking ruling by a New York Appeals Court set in motion the retrial, which began on April 23.
Following five days of deliberation, the 12-person jury convicted Weinstein of engaging in a criminal sex act with actress Mimi Haley, one of the top charges.
However, jurors acquitted Weinstein of engaging in a criminal sex act with model Kaja Sokola, who accused the disgraced Miramax founder of forcing oral sex on her in 2006 when she was just 16 years old.
This was a new charge that wasn’t brought againstWeinstein during his first trial.
The majority female jury was deadlocked on the rape charge against Weinstein, who is accused of forcing himself onto actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
Judge Curtis Farber dismissed jurors for the day but informed them that they will reconvene on Thursday to continue deliberating on the rape charge.
Weinstein had a slightly stunned expression on his face after the mixed verdict was read and court officers cuffed him to his wheelchair, according to The New York Times.
Weinstein denied all allegations throughout the case as his lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said during closing statements that “he’s the one being abused.”
Despite the mixed verdict, Weinstein is still serving a 16-year prison sentence in Los Angeles, where he was convicted in 2022 on several sexual assault counts.
HEATED DAY IN COURT
Shortly before the verdict was announced, the trial heated up after the jury foreperson claimed jurors were getting in yelling matches and discussing inadmissable evidence.
The foreperson had a conversation with the judge and, “said words to the effect of, ‘I can’t go back in there with the other jurors,'” Judge Curtis Farber said.
The foreperson said he was being bullied over his position with heated threats from the jury, the judge said.
“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,” Farber explained.
In a rare move, Weinstein then spoke to the courtroom and asked for the trial to be dismissed.
“My life is on the line, and you know what? It’s not fair,” he said after he asked to address the court.
“It’s time, it’s time, it’s time, it’s time to say this trial is over.”
Defense attorney Arthur Aidala said he was “disgusted” by the jury drama and called for a mistrial, but prosecutors said the spats were just part of deliberations.
Criminal defense lawyer Mark Bederow speculated that this dramatic twist will be “central to an appeal,” he told the New York Times.
He said it was “very concerning that a juror alerted the court that jurors were discussing inadmissible bad acts of Mr. Weinstein.”
“However, the fact that the jury split the verdict may cut against the defense by showing that jurors were able to deliberate fairly and carefully, as indicated by a partial verdict,” he added.
ACCUSERS SPEAK
Aidala ended his closing arguments in the retrial by insisting that Weinstein’s relationships with the women were “transactional” and that they were all angry that their film careers failed.
“If this guy wasn’t Harvey Weinstein, would we even be here?” Aidala asked the jury.
District Attorney Nicole Blumberg argued that Weinstein was never interested in the victims’ careers – only their bodies.
“The defense is no victim in this case — and to suggest otherwise is offensive,” Blumberg said.
Outside the courthouse, the accusers relived their emotional experiences testifying in the grim case.
Sokola briefly chatted to reporters to say, “It’s a big win for everyone. Harvey Weinstein will be in jail.”
Meanwhile, Haley, who has now won her case twice, was described as a “shero” by her lawyer Gloria Allred.
Haley said, “Testifying in the face of constant disruptions, victim-shaming, and deliberate attempts to distort the truth was exhausting and, at times, dehumanizing.
“I’m so grateful to the jury. I hope it is finally over.”
SHOCKING RULING
Weinstein was serving a 23-year sentence in New York when his conviction was overturned last April.
Officials ruled that the trial made an error by allowing irrelevant testimonies from three additional accusers.
Prosecutors brought the women to the stand to try to prove that Weinstein was engaged in a pattern of abuse, but the higher New York court determined that the strategy was prejudicial.
This time around, Weinstein said he wanted to take the stand to defend himself, but his lawyers shot down the idea, just like they did during the first trial.
While Weinstein awaited his verdict, he gave a rare interview to Fox 5’s Good Day New York anchor Rosanna Scotto, in which he said he understood why he was blocked from testifying.
“I’m not afraid of the DA, but this was the best advice and this is the advice you often hear: don’t take the stand if you don’t have to,” Weinstein said.
“He wanted to testify, and we respect that instinct,” Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Deadline on Monday.
“At this stage, doing so would subject him to scrutiny far beyond the scope of the current charges — raising issues that could unfairly damage his credibility. Our position is one of caution, not evasion.”
BIZARRE RECENT INTERVIEW
While he wasn’t allowed to testify, he proclaimed his innocence from prison in a bizarre recent interview with right-wing political commentator Candace Owens last month.
Weinstein said he “made mistakes,” but that he never committed any crime.
“I hurt my family. I hurt my friends. I cheated on my wife, and that was a mistake, a terrible mistake,” he told Owens in his first on-camera interview in eight years.
“But I did not commit these crimes. I swear that before God and the people watching now and on my family. I’m wrongfully accused.
“But justice has to know the difference between what is immoral and what is illegal.”
Weinstein said the allegations left him friendless and alone.
“They are frightened to death. They are frightened that they’re going to be canceled, that they’re not going to be able to work,” he said about his former friends.
“I tried to get my people to stand up and even testify in the trial. And nothing.”
Owens asked Weinstein about Gwyneth Paltrow, who previously said the exec had made a pass at her in a hotel room that sparked Brad Pitt, her boyfriend at the time, to tell him to leave her alone.
Weinstein slammed Paltrow’s story as a “fabrication.”
“At the end of the meeting, we had a glass of Champagne. As I was walking out the door, I said to her, ‘I’d love you to give me a massage,'” Weinstein said.
He said Paltrow didn’t have much of a response as she left the hotel.
“That was it. I didn’t put my hand on her. I didn’t touch her. I definitely made a pass. I guess, you know, you could call it that, but that was the sum total of that situation,” he said.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14378474/harvey-weinstein-rape-trial-verdict/
