Harvey Weinstein Jury Deadlocked On Two Counts Of Predatory Sexual Assault In Rape Trial
Feb. 21 2020, Published 6:37 p.m. ET
The jury in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial indicated that they were deadlocked on two counts of predatory sexual assault on Friday.
The jurors sent a note to the judge asking what they could do if they were unable to reach a verdict on either of the two counts, but said they were unanimous on the other charges, according to Variety.
“We the jury request to understand if we can be hung on 1 and/or 3 and unanimous on the other charges,” the jury reportedly asked.
The Manhattan jury has been deliberating for a week.
Judge James Burke told the jury that they needed to continue deliberating and told them to return to court on Monday, February 24.
The disgraced movie mogul, 67, was accused of raping two women, Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann.
The two predatory sexual assault counts also include Annabella Sciorra’s allegations that he raped her in the early 1990s.
The jury asked for a read back of Sciorra’s testimony on Friday.
Haley claimed Weinstein held her down in a hotel room and performed oral sex on her in 2006.
Mann claimed he raped her in 2013 in the DoubleTree Hotel in Manhattan.
During closing arguments, Weinstein’s attorney Donna Rotunno reportedly told the jury to use their “New York common sense,” to find him not guilty.
She told the jury that the two women were ashamed about their relationship with Weinstein and insisted they were not victims of crimes.
“In their universe, women are not responsible for the parties they attend, the men they flirt with, the hotel room invitations, the plane tickets they expect, the jobs they hope to obtain,” said Rotunno.
“In this universe, they aren’t even responsible for sitting at their computers and emailing someone across the country… In this script, the powerful man is the villain and he is so unattractive and large that no woman would want to sleep with him.”
Jessica Mann testified in gruesome details about the alleged rape, offering shocking details about Weinstein’s physique, claiming he “doesn’t have testicle,” and that she thought he was “intersex.”
“She made a choice that she wanted to be in his world,” Rotunno said about Mann, claiming that any sexual relations she had with Weinstein were consensual. “She made a choice that she wanted the life that he could potentially provide her.”
Scroll through the gallery for the shocking evidence the jury heard during Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial.
Shocking Testimony
Naked pictures of Harvey Weinstein were shown to the jury in his rape trial after his accuser claimed he “doesn’t have testicles,” in bombshell testimony.
According to reporter Marta Dhanis, the jury was shown the nude photos as evidence in the case and they had visceral reactions on February 4.
“A few jurors reacted to the nude pictures: 2 women winced in disgust and one white man raised his eyebrows. #HarveyWeinstein,” Dhanis, who is covering the case, Tweeted.
Bad Experience
“The first time I saw him fully naked I thought he was deformed and intersex,” Mann testified in court. “He has an extreme scarring that I didn’t know, maybe he was a burn victim …”
Physical Description
“He does not have testicles, and it appears that he has a vagina,” Mann reportedly said on the stand during the trial.
Evidence
Manahattan District Attorney Photographer Yakov Mandelman took the naked photos of Weinstein in 2018, prior to the trial.
Harvey Speaks
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While leaving the courtroom on February 4, Weinstein told reporter NY Daily News Molly Crane-Newman that the naked photos were “Playboy,” according to a video she posted on Twitter.
On The Stand
Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi previously questioned Mann about Weinstein’s personal hygiene.
“It was very bad,” Mann said. “He smelled like sh** — excuse me, sorry, like poop. He just was dirty.”
