Former Hollywood magnate Harvey Weinstein is again going to trial on a rape charge in New York City, although he will remain imprisoned for other offences regardless of the verdict.
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Jury selection is set to start as early as Tuesday, local time, in Weinstein’s latest retrial, where jurors will weigh, for the third time, whether he raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.
This time jurors will weigh only one charge based on one accuser, rather than the array of allegations aired at Weinstein’s previous trials in New York and Los Angeles.
The Oscar-winning producer denies all the accusations and declared in court recently that he had “acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone”.
The judge has indicated he might revisit some rulings about exactly what evidence gets presented about Weinstein’s and Ms Mann’s years of interactions.
Weinstein’s recent change of attorneys could shift the trial’s tenor and tactics as well.
The disgraced movie mogul’s new lawyer Marc Agnifilo and his partners took on the case only in February, when longtime Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala stepped aside from the retrial to focus on his appeals and civil matters.
Jessica Mann arriving at state court in Manhattan before the start of Harvey Weinstein’s trial last May. (AP: Spencer Platt/Pool)
Weinstein wielded significant clout in the entertainment industry, having built his reputation on hits such as Shakespeare in Love, Pulp Fiction and Chocolat. He also became a prominent donor to the Democratic party.
Then a series of sexual harassment and sex assault allegations against him began to emerge in news media in 2017, propelling the #MeToo movement.
He was criminally charged in New York in 2018 and in Los Angeles two years later.
Weinstein went to trial and was convicted of some — but not all — counts in both cases. His initial New York convictions were overturned, leading to a retrial last year.
The retrial verdict was mixed: Weinstein was convicted of forcing oral sex on production assistant and producer Miriam Haley in 2006, but he was acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex that same year on model-turned-psychotherapist Kaja Sokola. The jury did not decide on the rape charge involving Ms Mann because the foreperson refused to keep deliberating.
Judge declares mistrial on one of three Harvey Weinstein rape charges
Weinstein subsequently considered pleading guilty, according to Mr Aidala. Evidently, Weinstein ultimately rejected the idea.
Ms Mann has testified that she had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with the then-married Weinstein.
But when he cornered her in a Manhattan hotel room where she was staying on a weekend getaway, she told the court that she said “I don’t want to do this”. She said he kept making advances and demands until she “just gave up”.
Weinstein has not testified at any of his trials, but his lawyers have contended that he never had non-consensual sex.
The defence claimed that Ms Mann and his other accusers willingly entertained his sexual overtures because they wanted his help with their show-business aspirations. The women, by contrast, said Weinstein dangled his Hollywood influence to draw them into his orbit and then victimise them.
Harvey Weinstein has claimed to be under threat at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx, where he is being held. (Reuters: Yuki Iwamura/Pool)
His sexual assault conviction involving Ms Haley carries the potential for up to 25 years in prison. No sentencing date has been set. In this case, the yet-to-be-decided rape charge is a lower-level charge punishable by up to four years behind bars. Weinstein, 73, already has served longer than that.
Weinstein suffers from various health problems and uses a wheelchair. He said in court in January he was haunted by the possibility he might die in New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail.
“My mental state is collapsing … my spirit is breaking,” he told the judge.
Weinstein’s lawyers have argued his New York conviction last year was poisoned by bad blood among jurors. Meanwhile, he is appealing the Los Angeles verdict.
Ms Haley, Ms Mann and Ms Sokola agreed to be named by AP.
AP