{"id":205648,"date":"2026-04-22T02:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205648\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T02:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:44:38","slug":"harvey-weinsteins-rape-retrial-opens-in-new-york-the-third-time-this-case-has-gone-to-trial-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205648\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey Weinstein\u2019s rape retrial opens in New York, the third time this case has gone to trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Prosecutors once again portrayed\u00a0Harvey Weinstein<\/a>\u00a0as a onetime Hollywood power player who used his sway as a tool of sexual assault, repainting a familiar but fraught picture Tuesday at a rape\u00a0retrial<\/a>\u00a0nearly eight years after the\u00a0former movie tycoon\u2019s arrest.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis case will come down to power, to control and to manipulation,\u201d Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Candace White told jurors as\u00a0opening statements<\/a>\u00a0began in the bellwether #MeToo case, with DA Alvin Bragg watching from the audience.<\/p>\n

Weinstein lawyer Jacob Kaplan countered that the case actually \u201cis about consent, about choice and about regret,\u201d echoing Weinstein\u2019s longtime defense that his accuser has recast a willing encounter as a crime.<\/p>\n

Since Weinstein became a major\u00a0target of the #MeToo movement<\/a>\u00a0against sexual misconduct nearly a decade ago, he has been convicted of some sexual assault charges and acquitted of others in trials on two U.S. coasts. A couple of charges ultimately were\u00a0dismissed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the rape charge involving a 2013 encounter in a Manhattan hotel has lingered, due to an\u00a0overturned conviction<\/a>\u00a0followed by a\u00a0jury deadlock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s different about this trial<\/p>\n

The allegation is, by now, well known. But the contours of the case have changed.<\/p>\n

The prior trials included other accusers and charges. This trial is pared down to the single question of what happened between Weinstein and hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a hotel room one morning, though the majority-male jury will also hear a lot about their relationship before and after that day.<\/p>\n

Weinstein also\u00a0switched trial legal team<\/a>, and with it the rhetorical style and perhaps some strategic choices in his defense. For example, his new attorneys have signaled they\u2019ll rein in some questions about a claims fund for women who said Weinstein sexually mistreated them.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also took a fresh look at the case file, and they\u2019re asking the judge to allow the addition of at least one new witness: a close friend of Mann\u2019s from the time of the alleged rape. If Weinstein himself testifies \u2014 which he hasn\u2019t done at prior trials \u2014 prosecutors may also argue for calling a court officer who\u00a0recently disclosed a remark<\/a>\u00a0he says Weinstein made in 2020. The defense objects to both potential witnesses.<\/p>\n

Judge Curtis Farber, too, is revisiting some aspects of the case. He limited questioning Tuesday about a list of \u201cfriends of Harvey\u201d that the producer\u2019s assistants maintained for event guest lists.<\/p>\n

Jurors learned that Mann and another expected witness were on the list. But unlike at last year\u2019s trial, the panel wasn\u2019t informed that the\u00a0roster was all women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Weinstein has\u00a0pleaded not guilty<\/a>. He\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in January that he had been unfaithful to his then-wife and \u201cacted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a 73-year-old prison inmate, Weinstein was once one of the most influential people in Hollywood. An Academy Award-winning producer and a studio boss, he helped bring such films as \u201cPulp Fiction,\u201d \u201cShakespeare in Love\u201d and \u201cGangs of New York\u201d to movie houses and produced TV shows including \u201cProject Runway.\u201d He also was a\u00a0prominent Democratic donor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His\u00a0career collapsed<\/a>\u00a0in 2017, when years of Hollywood whispers about his behavior toward women became public accusations\u00a0in news<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0social media<\/a>. Criminal charges followed in New York and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

About Weinstein\u2019s accuser and their relationship<\/p>\n

Mann was a 27-year-old who struggled financially, had recently lived in her car and yearned to break into big-time acting when she met Weinstein at a Los Angeles-area party in early 2013.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0has testified<\/a>\u00a0that she was looking for a professional connection but ended up, ambivalently, in a consensual relationship with the then-married Weinstein.<\/p>\n

During a New York trip with a friend in March 2013, she arranged a breakfast for pals and Weinstein. According to Mann\u2019s prior testimony, Weinstein ultimately trapped her in a hotel room, ignored her protestation that \u201cI don\u2019t want to do this,\u201d demanded she undress and grabbed her arms, and she succumbed because she \u201cjust wanted to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

White told jurors Tuesday that Weinstein \u201cwas used to getting his way\u201d professionally and personally.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehind closed doors, power meant him taking what he wanted from the victim in this case,\u201d the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n

Weinstein shook his head slightly at one point as White claimed that he had \u201csilenced\u201d Mann by letting her know that crossing him could be professional quicksand. She has testified that for years, she told no one about the alleged rape.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath, she\u00a0kept seeing Weinstein<\/a>, accepting invitations, asking him for career help and sending warm messages to him.<\/p>\n

She has said she was trying to avoid angering him. But his lawyer said the case \u201cisn\u2019t a \u2018he said, she said\u2019 \u2014 it will be her word against her own word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk yourself: What is Jessica Mann getting from Harvey Weinstein?\u201d Kaplan told jurors.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Prosecutors once again portrayed\u00a0Harvey Weinstein\u00a0as a onetime Hollywood power player who used his sway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72866,6431,81164,78411,81163,81165,69659,9,11,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-205648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-metoo","9":"tag-harvey-weinstein","10":"tag-harvey-weinstein-new-york-trial","11":"tag-harvey-weinstein-rape-retrial","12":"tag-harvey-weinstein-retrial","13":"tag-metoo-case","14":"tag-metoo-movement","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}