Jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault retrial started deliberating on Thursday in a Manhattan courtroom, after a choose instructed them to weigh for themselves the credibility of the three accusers that the protection has stated lied about their encounters with the once-powerful film mogul.
The Academy Award-winning producer and Miramax studio co-founder is accused of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and assaulting two different girls in 2006 and 2002. Weinstein, who has denied ever having non-consensual intercourse or assaulting anybody, has pleaded not responsible. The trial started in April.
The jury was excused for the day after deliberating for round 5 hours and requesting to evaluation Mann’s medical information proven on the trial, in addition to testimony from Kaja Sokola, who prosecutors say Weinstein assaulted in Manhattan in 2006. The jury is anticipated to proceed deliberating on Friday morning.
Weinstein, 73, is on trial for a second time after a New York state appeals courtroom threw out his conviction in April 2024. He faces as much as 25 years in jail for 2 counts of felony sexual acts and as much as 4 years for one depend of rape.
New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber instructed the 12 jurors on the legislation, and dismissed 4 alternate jurors on Thursday morning. After the jury was despatched to deliberate, Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair and sporting a darkish grey swimsuit, thanked Farber and the courtroom employees.
“I have been treated incredibly fairly,” he stated.
Weinstein’s protection lawyer Arthur Aidala moved for a mistrial earlier on Thursday morning, as a result of Farber changed a juror who referred to as in sick with an alternate. The choose denied the movement. Aidala has requested the choose a number of occasions to declare a mistrial, together with over prosecutors’ closing arguments, which concluded on Wednesday.
Weinstein is already serving a 16-year jail sentence after being discovered responsible in December 2022 of rape in California.
Prosecutors with the workplace of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who promised profession development in Hollywood to girls, solely to then coax them into non-public settings the place he attacked them.
“He held the golden ticket, the chance to make it or not. He made each of these women feel small, no match for the power broker of Hollywood,” prosecutor Nicole Blumberg instructed jurors on Wednesday.
Weinstein’s protection legal professionals have stated his encounters with the ladies had been consensual and accused them of mendacity about being raped after failing to make it large in Hollywood by sleeping with him.
“They are lying about what happened. Not about everything, but about a small slice – just enough to turn their regret, their buyers’ remorse, into criminality,” Aidala instructed jurors Tuesday.
Weinstein was convicted of rape by a Manhattan jury in February 2020, however the New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction and ordered a brand new trial, citing errors by the trial choose. Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence in a jail in upstate Rome, New York, when the conviction was overturned.
That conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo motion, which inspired girls to return ahead with allegations of sexual misconduct by {powerful} males.
Weinstein has been held at New York City’s Rikers Island jail since his conviction was overturned. He has had a number of well being scares whereas being held at Rikers, and in September was rushed to a hospital for emergency coronary heart surgical procedure.
More than 100 girls, together with well-known actresses, have accused Weinstein of misconduct. He has denied assaulting anybody or having non-consensual intercourse.
Miramax studio produced many hit films in its heyday, together with “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.”
Weinstein’s personal eponymous movie studio filed for chapter in March 2018, 5 months after the unique sexual misconduct accusations turned broadly publicized.
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