Jurors deadlocked in Harvey Weinstein ’s rape retrial Saturday, forcing another mistrial in a #MeToo-era case that has gone to trial three times so far. While the former Hollywood mogul has been convicted of other sex crimes on two US coasts and remains behind bars, the mistrial leaves the New York rape charge in limbo. Prosecutors were pondering whether to try the case a fourth time, after some jurors said outside court that nine out of 12 wanted to acquit Weinstein.
Weinstein, 74, showed little reaction as he was ushered from court, but his attorneys said later that he was pleased with the outcome. “Maybe it’s not the win that he wanted, but it’s a win, and we’re going to keep fighting,” attorney Marc Agnifilo said, adding that the defence believed it has “outstanding” prospects if the case is retried.
The majority-male Manhattan jury weighed whether Weinstein raped Jessica Mann, a hairstylist and actor. Weinstein’s lawyers argued that the encounter was consensual. It happened in 2013 during a fraught relationship between the then-married Weinstein and the decades-younger Mann. Mann said in a statement that the mistrial “doesn’t in any way detract from the truth I told.” “I deserve justice, which is why I stand up and face unbearable public scrutiny in the name of a greater good,” she said.
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