NEW YORK — Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of one count of criminal sexual act in his New York retrial, while being acquitted of another charge and facing a hung jury on a third.
The verdict, delivered Wednesday by a jury made up mostly of women, found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley. He was acquitted of charges involving Kaja Sokola, and jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision on a third charge related to actress Jessica Mann. Deliberations are set to continue Thursday on that count.
The retrial follows the overturning of Weinstein’s 2020 convictions in April by New York’s highest court. In that trial, he had been found guilty of sexually abusing both Haley and Mann and sentenced to 23 years in prison. In the current case, both women returned to testify again.
Haley accused Weinstein of forcibly performing a sex act on her in 2006 at his apartment. Mann alleged he raped her at a hotel in 2013. Sokola, testifying for the first time, described two separate assaults—one in 2002 when she was 16, and another in 2006 in a Manhattan hotel. The latter incident led to the charge in the retrial, on which Weinstein was ultimately acquitted.
Tensions ran high during jury deliberations, with reports of infighting in the jury room. Judge Curtis Farber acknowledged on record that the jury foreperson had reported yelling and even a threat from another juror, who allegedly said, “I’ll meet you outside one day.”
Weinstein addressed the court directly, calling for a mistrial. “This is my life that’s on the line,” he said. “I am not getting a fair trial. You are endangering me, Your Honor.”
His attorney, Arthur Aidala, argued the environment amounted to “menacing and harassment,” claiming the verdict was the result of “coercion and threats.”
However, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo rejected the claim, saying the foreperson appeared more “stubborn” than scared. “He said he’d made up his mind, and others were pressuring him to change it,” Colangelo noted. “That’s what jury deliberations involve.”
Following the mixed verdict, Sokola expressed relief that Weinstein would still face consequences. “Harvey Weinstein will remain behind bars and that is a win,” she said in a statement. “Coming forward was the hardest thing I’ve ever done… I relived my trauma, all at a personal cost — so that the world would know the truth.”
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Haley said she was grateful to the jury. “The defense set a very disruptive and chaotic tone… meant to distract from undeniable fact. I’m grateful the jury saw through the nonsense,” she said.
She added that testifying under such scrutiny was “exhausting and dehumanizing,” but said the verdict gave her hope. “Hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence, and that the myth of the ‘perfect victim’ is fading.”
Weinstein remains incarcerated, currently serving a separate 16-year prison sentence following his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles.
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