{"id":215816,"date":"2026-04-30T19:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/215816\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T19:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:46:08","slug":"harvey-weinsteins-lawyers-question-rape-accuser-at-new-york-retrial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/215816\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers question rape accuser at New York retrial"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Harvey Weinstein<\/a> \u2018s lawyers questioned his accuser at his rape retrial<\/a> Thursday, making clear they planned to explore her conflicted feelings and complex history with the onetime Hollywood powerbroker.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the third time Jessica Mann has had to answer his lawyers\u2019 questions in a New York court. But different attorneys<\/a> are now defending the ex-studio boss whose downfall powered the #MeToo movement<\/a> against sexual misconduct. The first several hours of back-and-forth were tense but didn\u2019t hit the emotional boiling points of Mann\u2019s prior cross-examinations<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Weinstein lawyer Teny Geragos<\/a> began questioning Mann on Wednesday by seizing on her complicated feelings about Weinstein during a knotty relationship<\/a> that involved some consensual sexual encounters. <\/p>\n

Under prosecutors\u2019 questioning earlier, Mann said that despite the alleged rape, she loved \u201ca part of him\u201d because he could be kind and encouraging about her personal struggles and professional dreams, and that the two had \u201csome pretty human moments\u201d together. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did he do for you that made parts of you really love him?\u201d Geragos asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the validation,\u201d Mann said. <\/p>\n

When Geragos went on to ask about the \u201chuman moments,\u201d Mann said she once slapped Weinstein, thinking he was inviting it as sex play, but that he later told her, \u201cJess, that\u2019s not you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when you were talking about the validation that you received \u2026 and the human moments that you shared with Harvey, it was that you slapped him?\u201d Geragos asked.<\/p>\n

Mann said she instead was referring to his remark that \u201cthat\u2019s not you.\u201d <\/p>\n

Court ended for the day soon afterward. As it resumed Thursday, Geragos quizzed Mann about her early interactions with Weinstein. <\/p>\n

Weinstein, 73, is on trial for the third time on a charge accusing him of raping Mann in a New York hotel in March 2013. He was initially convicted in 2020<\/a>, but an appeals court overturned that verdict<\/a>. During his first retrial, the jury couldn\u2019t reach a decision<\/a> on the rape charge.<\/p>\n

Mann also alleges that Weinstein raped her again in Beverly Hills, California, in late 2013 or early 2014. He has never been charged with any crime related to that allegation. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe just treated me like he owned me,\u201d she told jurors<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

Mann, 40, acknowledges that she accepted his sexual advances at times but said the two rapes happened as she protested and pleaded with him to stop. <\/p>\n

Weinstein\u2019s lawyers maintain that everything that happened between the two was consensual and part of a supportive, caring relationship. They say Mann benefited from associating with an Oscar-winning producer, only later accusing him amid the #MeToo outcry of 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n

Mann and Weinstein met at a Los Angeles-area party around early 2013. At the time, she was a financially struggling hairstylist and actor aspiring to make it big in show business. <\/p>\n

The then-married Weinstein invited her to a bookstore, where he bought her volumes about movies. Not long afterward, he took her to dinner at a hotel in Beverly Hills.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom your perspective in 2013, going to dinner with another man who\u2019s older than you can imply certain ideas, like a date, correct?\u201d Geragos asked.<\/p>\n

Mann said she hadn\u2019t thought of it as a date. His assistant scheduled the dinner, so it seemed \u201csomewhat professional,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

After the meal, Weinstein asked her up to his hotel suite, where Mann testified that he pressed her to take off her shirt and let him massage her. She said she instead rubbed his back to \u201cde-escalate\u201d the situation.<\/p>\n

Geragos suggested Mann simply could have left the room. <\/p>\n

On another occasion, Mann said, Weinstein pulled her into a hotel suite bedroom and made advances she initially resisted, before submitting to oral sex because he otherwise wouldn\u2019t let her leave.<\/p>\n

Geragos noted, through questions, that although Mann said the encounter shocked and dismayed her, she didn\u2019t call out for help from a friend who she said was in the suite\u2019s sitting area throughout.<\/p>\n

The alleged rape happened weeks later.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Harvey Weinstein \u2018s lawyers questioned his accuser at his rape retrial Thursday, making clear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72866,2571,2136,419,303,157,417,6431,415,78293,9,24,11,10,3019,4721,421],"class_list":["post-215816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-metoo","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-california","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-harvey-weinstein","tag-indictments","tag-jessica-mann","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-sexual-assault","tag-trials","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215816","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=215816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}