NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in Harvey Weinstein’ssex crimes retrial are drilling down on one of many three fees towards him: a rape accusation from a lady who additionally mentioned she had a consensual relationship with him.
The seven feminine and 5 male jurors are poised to begin their fifth day of deliberations Wednesday by re-hearing Jessica Mann’s testimony that he raped her in a Manhattan lodge room in 2013.
Mann’s accusation was an obvious focus of Tuesday’s deliberations, and the jury ended the day by asking to be re-read her testimony about what occurred between her and Weinstein on the lodge. The group additionally indicated it needs to proceed privately reviewing her emails with Weinstein and a few 2017 medical data regarding her response to information accounts of different girls’s allegations towards him.
The previous Hollywood powerbroker, 73, has pleaded not responsible to raping Mann and to forcing oral intercourse on two different girls, Mimi Haley and Kaja Sokola. The Oscar-winning producer maintains that he by no means sexually assaulted or raped anybody, and his legal professionals portrayed his accusers as opportunists who accepted his advances as a result of they wished a leg up within the leisure world.
Whereas all three girls stayed involved with Weinstein regardless of what they are saying had been assaults, Mann had a very complicated historical past with him. Throughout days on the witness stand, she testified that they’d a consensual relationship that exploded into rape, but continued afterward.
Weinstein was one of many film trade’s strongest figures till a collection of sexual misconduct allegations towards him turned public in 2017, fueling the #MeToo motion and finally resulting in felony fees.
He initially was convicted in 2020 of raping Mann and forcing oral intercourse on Haley. Sokola’s allegation was added final 12 months, after New York state’s highest courtroom overturned the 2020 conviction and despatched the case again for retrial. In the meantime, Weinstein is interesting a 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles.
After a few days of obvious interpersonal friction, the retrial jury labored via Tuesday with no additional complaints.
The Related Press typically doesn’t determine individuals with out their permission if they are saying they’ve been sexually assaulted. Sokola, Mann and Haley have agreed to be named.
