Harvey Weinstein‘s rape charge, related to actress Jessica Mann, has been declared a mistrial after the jury foreperson claimed they felt threatned by other jurors due to their difference in opinions, Knewz.com can reveal.
On Wednesday, June 11, the vile former music producer was found guilty of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley, however, he was found not guilty of a criminal sexual act against former model Kaja Sokol.
Chaos In The Jury Room
Following Judge Curtis Farber’s decision, prosecutors revealed they will be retrying Weinstein on the rape charge, and that Mann “is ready and willing and wants to retry this count.”
A July 2 hearing has been set on that charge.
Weinstein, 73, was accused of sexual assault by three different women, charges he denied, as his defense claimed the sexual encounters were all “transactional” and “consensual.”
While they reached a verdict on charges related to Haley and Sokol on Wednesday, the jury was sent home before deciding on the third charge, as chaos and fighting within the jury room derailed discussion.
The jury foreperson spoke to Farber and the legal teams and made it clear they did not feel safe.
“I feel afraid inside there. I can’t be inside there.” According to the foreperson, their fellow jurors had been trying to get him to change his mind, and when he refused, they apparently said, “Oh, we will see you outside.”
‘It’s Just Not Fair’
The foreperson also refused to return to the jury room on Thursday.
The rest of the jury expressed their “disappointment” in the mistrial, and said they were unsure “why the foreperson bowed out.”
Before the verdict on all charges were read, Weinstein spoke out and complained about the process, raging to Farber: “This is not right for me, the person on trial here.
“Lawyers can fight all they want. This is my life on the line. It’s not fair. It’s that simple. It’s just not fair.”
He added: “It could be in my favor, but it’s not fair. That’s the problem with this… This is over.”
While the decision on the charge related to Mann, who claimed Weinstein raped her inside a NYC hotel room in 2013, is still undecided, the charge related to Sokola went in Weinstein’s favor.
During the trial, Sokola took the stand and recalled Weinstein allegedly raping her and molesting her on two separate occasions under the guise of helping her career.
According to the 39-year-old, Weinstein was furious when she tried to leave and proceeded to tell her how he made Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz famous.
‘My Hope Had Died’
Sokola claimed Weinstein pinned her down and forcefully performed oral sex on her in a hotel room days before her 20th birthday in 2006.
She testified: “He forced himself on my vagina – he raped me. “He pinned me to the bed, I couldn’t move under him, his whole body was pining me to the bed… it was like a rock was on me. It was too heavy. My legs were becoming numb. He was so heavy.”
“I felt like I was dead. I was completely numb… my hope had died,” she added at the time.
Sokola also claimed she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein in his apartment when she was 16 years old.
Weinstein is facing 25 years behind bars on his guilty conviction related to Haley.
The post Harvey Weinstein Gets Mistrial on Rape Charge appeared first on Knewz.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Knewz Staff
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://knewz.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
