NEED TO KNOW
- A New York City jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty on one count of criminal sexual act and not guilty on a second.
- Three women testified against the disgraced movie mogul
- Weinstein has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct
Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of one charge of criminal sexual act and not guilty of a second charge.
Weinstein, 73, was convicted of forcing oral sex on former TV production assistant Miriam Haley, 48, at his New York City apartment in July 2006, but was acquitted of charges he forcibly performed oral sex on former model Kaja Sokola, 39, that same year, when she was just 19 years old.
The jury couldn’t reach a verdict and is still deliberating on the third-degree rape charge involving actress Jessica Mann, who said the former Miramax chief raped her in a New York hotel room in 2013.
Jurors will return to court on Thursday, June 12 to continue deliberating on the charges involving Mann.
Related Stories
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Miriam-Haley-050225-18cd9a7a3b684e00829d1b054c13c99e.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/harvey-weinstein-court-2-043025-b03f2343bdb2474b920153bc9dfc846b.jpg)
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
The jury took five days to deliberate in seemingly contentious circumstances. Earlier on Wednesday, the jury foreperson expressed concern that they were being pressured to take a certain position, noting another juror effectively said “I’ll meet you outside one day” as the room descended into “yelling and screaming,” Judge Curtis Farber said in court, according to the Associated Press.
Weinstein’s lawyers unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial in response, the AP reported.
Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, and the initial allegations against him in 2017 sparked the global #MeToo movement. He has denied all wrongdoing.
In February 2020, Weinstein was convicted on state charges of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape in New York, and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
However, in April 2024, the New York Court of Appeals overturned his conviction, finding that the trial judge erroneously allowed three women whose allegations were not a part of the criminal case against Weinstein to testify about his alleged “prior bad acts.”
In 2022, Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault in California, a conviction that still stands.
Weinstein did not take the stand in his defense at the retrial. In a rare interview Friday with Fox 5’s “Good Day New York,” Weinstein said he took the advice from his lawyer to stay silent in court, lest the District Attorney “try to rip me apart.”
He also claimed to have “regrets” about how he “acted immorally,” and over what his family had been put through. However, he claimed none of his actions were illegal.
NPR reported that Weinstein has recently received treatment for bone marrow cancer. PEOPLE reported in 2024 that he had emergency heart surgery at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
Read the full article here