Harvey Weinstein’s third trial in New York over allegations he used his Hollywood clout to prey upon and sexually abuse women ended in a mistrial on Friday, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a charge he raped the aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
Weinstein (74) is expected to remain behind bars due to his convictions in other cases.
He was a top US film producer until sexual misconduct allegations led to his downfall and fuelled a wider social movement that encouraged women to come forward with accounts of sexual abuse by powerful men.
The case, brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, centred on allegations that Weinstein raped Mann in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 while Mann resisted and repeatedly said “no”.
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Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree rape and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. His lawyers have argued that Mann fabricated the rape allegation after regretting that her consensual romance with Weinstein failed to advance her film career.
At his first trial in New York in 2020, Weinstein was convicted of raping Mann and assaulting onetime production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. But the state’s highest court overturned the conviction and Weinstein’s 23-year prison sentence after concluding he did not get a fair trial.
A Manhattan jury then convicted Weinstein of sexually abusing Haley at a trial in June 2025, but found him not guilty of assaulting former model Kaja Sokola.
The jury deadlocked on the third-degree rape charge accusing Weinstein of assaulting Mann, leading justice Curtis Farber to declare a mistrial on that count. The retrial began in April.
Weinstein was also convicted of rape in California in 2022 and is serving a 16-year prison sentence. He is appealing that conviction and sentence.
The Miramax studio co-founder will face up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced for abusing Haley. – Reuters
