By JENNIFER PELTZ<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014\u00a0Harvey Weinstein<\/a>\u00a0won\u2019t face a fourth trial on a New York rape charge. Prosecutors dropped the #MeToo-era case on Thursday after his accuser said she could not bear to testify again.<\/p>\n The movie mogul still stands\u00a0convicted of another sexual felony<\/a>\u00a0in New York and\u00a0others in California<\/a>, and he remains behind bars. But the New York rape charge had remained unresolved after an\u00a0overturned conviction<\/a>\u00a0followed by\u00a0two hung juries<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jessica Mann<\/a>, a hairstylist an actor, spent days on the witness stand at all three trials, telling jurors that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel in 2013 \u2014 and being questioned extensively about the complex relationship she had with him before and afterward. The Oscar-winning producer denied the charge and said everything that happened between him and Mann was consensual.<\/p>\n In a letter that prosecutor Nicole Blumberg quoted in court Thursday, Mann said she could \u201cno longer endure going through this,\u201d adding that the 8-year-old case has \u201cput me through more harm than good.\u201d<\/p>\n Blumberg told the court that prosecutors believe Mann and hail her \u201cbravery, strength, courage and inspiration\u201d to other survivors, but given her feelings about proceeding, \u201cdismissal is appropriate.\u201d With that, Judge Curtis Farber formally dismissed the case.<\/p>\n Weinstein left court with a neutral expression, returning to jail to await a September sentencing on a New York sexual assault conviction involving a different woman. Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison term.<\/p>\n Once Weinstein finishes whatever punishment he gets in New York, he\u2019s due to serve 16 years in California, where he was convicted of raping a third woman, who\u2019s an Italian actor. He is appealing both convictions.<\/p>\n Weinstein\u2019s lawyers said he was was relieved by the dismissal of the case surrounding Mann\u2019s allegation.<\/p>\n \u201cThese charges should never have been brought to begin with,\u201d lawyer Jacob Kaplan said outside court. \u201cHe is innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n Mann has testified that she had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with Weinstein, who was married at the time.<\/p>\n But she\u00a0told jurors she repeatedly tried to leave<\/a>\u00a0and said no to any sexual activity as he cornered her in a hotel room on March 18, 2013. They had planned to meet in the lobby for breakfast, but he had spontaneously taken a room.<\/p>\n She said he persevered, demanding that she undress and grabbing her arms, until she was afraid to keep protesting.<\/p>\n The latest trial, this spring, took a visible toll on Mann, 40. During five days of testimony, she was questioned for the first time about a\u00a0diarylike, soul-baring note<\/a>\u00a0she wrote two days after the alleged rape, which the note did not mention. At one point during her testimony, Mann said she was\u00a0struggling to focus<\/a>, prompting court to wrap up early for the day.<\/p>\n In her letter to the court Thursday, she said she had suffered a concussion shortly before her testimony, had headaches and other symptoms on the stand and ultimately \u201cdisassociated.\u201d It was a humiliating addition to an already crushing experience, she wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been fragmented, silenced, defamed and traumatized. I\u2019ve paid the price of my reputation,\u201d Mann wrote. Slamming the court, the media and Weinstein, she said her experience showed that \u201cpursuing justice is better left a pipe dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Weinstein was one of the movie industry\u2019s most powerful figures, a producer of such tastemakers and hits as \u201cShakespeare in Love,\u201d \u201cPulp Fiction\u201d and \u201cChocolat.\u201d<\/p>\n Then a\u00a0series of sexual misconduct allegations<\/a>\u00a0against him became public in 2017,\u00a0fueling the #MeToo campaign<\/a>\u00a0for accountability and eventually leading to criminal charges in New York and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n He denied all of them and was acquitted of some, even as he was convicted of others.<\/p>\n During a series of trials, Weinstein was\u00a0convicted<\/a>\u00a0in 2020 of raping Mann. Then an appeals court\u00a0overturned that verdict<\/a>\u00a0for reasons unrelated to her testimony.\u00a0Jury deliberations broke down<\/a>\u00a0at a 2025 retrial, and jurors\u00a0deadlocked again<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0this year\u2019s retrial<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rape charge in this case was a low-level felony punishable by up to four years in prison \u2014 less time than Weinstein, 74, already has served.<\/p>\n Weinstein\u00a0didn\u2019t testify<\/a>\u00a0at any of the trials, though he complained\u00a0during<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0after<\/a>\u00a0the 2025 New York retrial that it was unfair; the judge disagreed.<\/p>\n