New York (AFP) – Disgraced Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of one sexual assault at his retrial Wednesday and not guilty of another, with jurors still considering a rape charge after hearing graphic testimony from his alleged victims. Weinstein was retried for offenses against two women, Jessica Mann whom he is alleged to have raped, and Miriam Haley whom he was found to have sexually assaulted, alongside new charges of assaulting ex-model Kaja Sokola. He was found not guilty of those new charges at the tense proceeding in a Manhattan court on Wednesday.
Delivering the verdict of the seven women and five men of the jury on the Haley count, the foreman said: “Guilty.” He shook his head when he was asked for a verdict on the rape of Mann, and said “not guilty” on the Sokola count. Weinstein looked on impassively, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit as he has done throughout the six weeks of hearings. But later, the 73-year-old appeared to mutter “Not true” as he was wheeled out of court.
Following the verdict, Haley told reporters that the defense’s “victim shaming and deliberate attempts to distort the truth was exhausting and at times dehumanizing.” “But today’s verdict gives me hope, hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence and that the myth of the ‘perfect victim’ is fading.”
The verdicts came after a dramatic morning in which tensions in the jury deliberation room spilled into the open. The foreman had told the judge Curtis Farber he could not continue after facing threats. “One other juror made comments to the effect ‘I’ll meet you outside one day’,” the judge said quoting the foreman, adding there was yelling between jurors.
After Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala heatedly demanded a mistrial over the jury rupture, Weinstein himself addressed the court, deploying a commanding voice reminiscent of the heyday of his Hollywood power. “We’ve heard threats, violence, intimidation — this is not right for me…the person who is on trial here,” he said. “My lawyers, the District Attorney’s lawyers can fight all they want, (but) this is my life that’s on the line and it’s not fair.” “It’s time, it’s time, it’s time your honor, to say this trial is over,” Weinstein added.
The judge responded that while unusual, disputes between jurors were not unheard of, before pressing on to hear the jury’s partial verdict. The Oscar-winner’s conviction is a vindication for Haley, whose complaint in part led to the initial guilty verdict in 2020, and helped spur the “MeToo” movement that saw an outpouring of allegations from prominent women who were abused by men.
Weinstein underwent a spectacular fall from his position astride the world of Hollywood and show business in 2017 when the first allegations against him exploded into public view. The movement upended the film industry, exposing the systemic exploitation of young women seeking to work in entertainment, and provoking a reckoning on how to end the toxic culture. More than 80 women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in the wake of the global backlash against men abusing positions of power.
Weinstein’s original 2020 conviction, and the resulting 23-year prison term, was thrown out last year after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented. Throughout the trial that began on April 15, Weinstein’s sharp-suited attorney argued that the context had shifted since the first proceedings. While the “MeToo” movement was “the most important thing in society” back them, “I think people’s heads are in a different place right now,” Aidala said.
Any sentence will be in addition to the 16-year term Weinstein is already serving after being convicted in California of raping a European actress over a decade ago. Weinstein, the producer of box office hits like “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” did not take the stand during his retrial, but did acknowledge in an interview he acted “immorally.” The retrial played out with far less public attention than the initial proceedings, when daily protests against sexual violence were staged outside the court. This time, the case was eclipsed by the blockbuster trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs taking place at an adjacent courthouse.
© 2024 AFP
