Harvey Weinstein rape charge ends in mistrial after ferocious jury infighting

The judge overseeing Harvey Weinstein's criminal trial in Manhattan declared a mistrial Thursday, June 12, on a third-degree rape charge against the former Hollywood movie mogul, after one of the jurors refused to continue deliberations.

The mistrial marks the second time this case has run up against a legal roadblock – this case itself is a retrial. Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber declared the mistrial after the judge said the jury could not reach a verdict on a third count, which charged Weinstein with raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.

The jury foreperson told Farber on Wednesday, June 11, that other members of the jury were shouting at him and threatening him for refusing to change his vote on the rape count. Farber then sent jurors home for the day to give them time to cool down and instructed the foreperson to arrive in court separately on Thursday. The mistrial signals that no resolution was found.

"I will never give up on myself and making sure my voice – and the truth – is heard. I have told the District Attorney I am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served. Today is not the end of my fight," Mann wrote in a statement shared with USA TODAY June 12.

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Weinstein for comment.

The jury found Weinstein guilty one day earlier on the top sex-abuse charge in the case. A 12-person jury handed down the guilty verdict, and also acquitted him on another charge, after six days of deliberation.

Weinstein was convicted of a first-degree criminal sexual act, which stemmed from his assault of former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. The jury did not convict Weinstein, however, of a separate first-degree criminal sexual act charge stemming from his alleged assault of Kaja Sokola in 2002 when she was a 16-year-old aspiring actress.

"We take the wins where we get them," Juda Engelmayer, a representative for Weinstein, wrote to USA TODAY in a statement June 12 regarding the first round of decisions. "And the acquittal on the Sokola charge was a major one. A conviction there would have reset the sentencing clock entirely."

Weinstein's retrial, which began in April, brought the former Hollywood boss to court on charges of rape and sexual assault after a 2020 conviction – and his 23-year sentence – were overturned. The original decision was deemed invalid when a New York appeals court found the judge in the case erred by admitting "irrelevant" testimony from women whose allegations were not a part of the case.

What happened in Harvey Weinstein's retrial

This latest Weinstein trial looped in one additional accuser, centering the case on allegations from three women: two who claim Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex in 2006 and one who alleges he raped her in 2013.

In the original sex-crimes trial, Mann, the former actress, testified Weinstein raped her in his New York hotel room in 2013. Her accusations led to the movie mogul being convicted of rape in the third degree in the 2020 trial.

Throughout his legal woes, Weinstein has denied ever having nonconsensual sex or assaulting anyone.

Prosecutors have cast Weinstein as a serial predator who promised career advancement in Hollywood to women, only to then coax them into private settings where he attacked them. Meanwhile, his defense claimed his encounters with the women were consensual and accused them of lying about being raped after failing to make it big in Hollywood by sleeping with him.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support in English and Spanish via chat and at 800-656-4673. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788.

Contributing: Jack Queen, Jonathan Stempel, REUTERS; Edward Segarra, KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY