A panel of seven women and five men began deliberating Harvey Weinstein’s fate on Wednesday, as New York prosecutors wrapped their rape and sexual assault case and sent it to the jury that could definitively decide whether he spends the rest of his life in prison – as well as determine his soon-to-be current address.
That’s because a not-guilty verdict would automatically send Weinstein back to California, where he was convicted in December 2022 and sentenced to 16 years. That verdict is under an appeal of the same nature that got his 2022 New York conviction thrown out, sparking the soon-to-be concluded Manhattan retrial.
But a guilty verdict would surely mean that the now-72-year-old Weinstein, who has repeatedly complained of dire health problems at the notorious Rikers Island prison, will die in prison. The California sentence is to be served consecutively – only after a potential New York sentence is expired.
Though Weinstein told his lawyers he wanted to testify in his own defense, they ultimately decided it would be too risky. He did, however, take the unusual step of granting a jailhouse interview, to Candace Owens, telling the conservative commentator that sexual encounters with the women was consensual and purely “transactional.”
The jury will decide whether Weinstein raped one woman in 2006 and assaulted two others that same year, all of whom have testified.
Three women took the stand to accuse Weinstein in the retrial. Kaja Sokola, the only of the three witnesses who did not testify in the 2020 trial, told the jury on May 8 that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in a Manhattan hotel.
Jessica Mann testified May 20 that she started a consensual sexual relationship with Weinstein, but after she tried to end it by telling him she was seeing someone else, he grabbed, dragged, forcefully undressed and raped her. Another accuser, Miriam Haley, testified April 30 that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006, also in a hotel room.
The 2020 jury took five days of deliberations to reach a verdict. Throughout all three trials, Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing, saying the sex with aspiring actresses amounted to cheating on his wife, but that he never assaulted anyone.
