Harvey Weinstein’s retrial begins in New York with new evidence in the rape case.
Harvey Weinstein’s retrial begins in New York with new evidence in the rape case.
After years of #MeToo notoriety, legal jeopardy, and jail, Harvey Weinstein is on trial again in New York City on rape charges.
Jury selection began Tuesday in the onetime movie mogul’s latest retrial, where jurors will consider for the third time whether he raped hair stylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.
It is a more streamlined proceeding than the series of allegations that were aired in Weinstein’s previous trials in New York and Los Angeles. The Oscar-winning producer denied all allegations and declared in court this winter that he “has done wrong, but I have never assaulted anyone.”
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Nevertheless, the retrial is expected to last six weeks. Questioned about the length of the proceedings and whether they could be fair and impartial about the much-publicized case, more than 80 potential jurors apologized during preliminary screenings Tuesday morning.
About 60 others remained for further questioning in the afternoon.
A surprising move from prosecutors
Although Mann’s allegations may be familiar, the specifics of the case may differ. In a surprise move before jury selection began on Tuesday, prosecutors suggested they might try to introduce a new piece of evidence — a comment Weinstein allegedly made to a court official six years ago.
According to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Candace White, the officer told prosecutors last week that he was prepared for Weinstein’s February 2020 sexual assault conviction – which was later overturned – and overheard Weinstein saying: “If you had seen these girls, you would have done the exact same thing.”
Weinstein’s lawyers urged Judge Curtis Farber to keep any mention of the alleged remarks out of his upcoming retrial.
Defense attorney Mark Agnifilo said, “It seems far-fetched,” adding that it was “too late” to present it.
A topic that has been explored in previous trials — a claims fund for women who say Weinstein sexually abused them — likely won’t come up again. The defense team does not intend to raise the topic, Farber said.
A new defense team
Agnifilo and his partners took over the case in February, when longtime Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala stepped aside from the former studio boss’s appeal and retrial to focus on civil matters. Aidala and Agnifilo are both well-known New York defense attorneys, but they have different litigation styles. Aidala is folkier, while Agnifilo is more buttoned-up.
Building his reputation on critical and popular hits such as “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat,” Weinstein exerted significant influence in the entertainment industry. He also became a major Democratic donor.
Then in 2017, a series of sexual assault and harassment allegations against Weinstein began to surface in the news media, sparking the #MeToo movement.
He was criminally charged in New York in 2018 and in Los Angeles two years later.
a complicated series of tests
Weinstein was prosecuted and convicted on some – but not all – counts in both cases. His initial conviction was overturned in New York, leading to a retrial last year.
The verdict of the retrial was mixed: Weinstein was convicted in 2006 of forcing oral sex on production assistant and producer Miriam Haley, but he was acquitted of forcing oral sex on model-turned-psychiatrist Kaja Sokola. The jury did not decide on the rape charge involving Mann because the chief declined to continue deliberations.
Mann has testified that she had a consensual, on-and-off affair with the then-married Weinstein. But when he locked her in the Manhattan hotel room where she was staying on a weekend getaway, she protested, saying, “I don’t want to do this,” she told jurors. She said he continued to advance and make demands until she “gave in.”
Weinstein has not testified in any of his trials, but his lawyers have argued that he never had non-consensual sex. The defense claimed that her accusers willingly entertained her sexual advances because they wanted her help in show business.
The women said Weinstein used his Hollywood influence to lure them in and then preyed on them.
He is appealing the Los Angeles verdict and is expected to also appeal the New York conviction involving Haley. This carries a prison sentence of up to 25 years; No date for sentencing has been set.
In this case, the rape charge is a low-level crime punishable by up to four years in prison. Weinstein, 73, has already served longer than that.
Weinstein has various health problems and uses a wheelchair. He told a judge in January that his “mental condition is deteriorating” in New York’s notorious Rikers Island prison.