Manhattan prosecutors stated they won’t retry Harvey Weinstein on a rape cost associated to Jessica Mann, after a mistrial was declared on the depend in Might.
The prosecutors stated they made the choice to dismiss the cost after having discussions with Mann, who didn’t want to testify once more. This may have been the fourth time Mann testified in entrance of a jury concerning the cost.
“To be clear, we imagine Ms. Mann’s account and her credibility as a witness. This has been an awfully taxing ordeal for her, and she or he has by no means wavered whereas testifying in entrance of two grand juries and three trial juries over the course of eight years. We thank her for her honesty and her super bravery,” Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg stated in a press release.
In selecting to dismiss the cost associated to Mann, the DA’s workplace can be shifting ahead with sentencing suggestions of 20 years in jail for Weinstein on the depend of a felony sexual act in opposition to former Mission Runway assistant Miriam Haley, “which might account for the numerous harms his actions have triggered Ms. Haley,” in keeping with Bragg. Choose Curtis Farber had been holding off on sentencing till proceedings associated to the Mann had been concluded. The cost carries a most sentence of 25 years.
“Harvey is relieved. That is what ought to have occurred had the prosecution confirmed the complete extent of emails, texts and personal messages to the grand jury initially,” stated Juda Engelmayer, a spokesperson for Weinstein, referencing the pleasant correspondence Mann despatched to Weinstein earlier than and after the alleged incident.
“We will likely be getting ready our sentencing supplies shortly. As with the unique trial, we imagine Choose Burke received the sentencing improper too, and we anticipate to problem the prosecution’s suggestions. Harvey has been a mannequin prisoner for almost seven years. He’s paid his debt,” he continued.
Weinstein was initially convicted in New York in 2020 of raping Mann, an aspiring actress, in addition to sexually assaulting Haley. That conviction was overturned in 2024 when the New York Courtroom of Appeals dominated that the trial decide incorrectly allowed different ladies whose allegations weren’t charged within the case to testify.
Prosecutors then pursued a retrial in 2025, the place Weinstein was convicted of a felony sexual act in opposition to Haley, and cleared of an analogous cost in opposition to former mannequin Kaja Sokola. The jury in that trial was unable to succeed in a verdict on the cost associated to Mann and a mistrial was declared, as one juror refused to proceed deliberating amid hostilities amongst their fellow jurors.
One other trial on the cost associated to Mann was held this spring, and equally resulted in a mistrial, as jurors remained deadlocked of their votes.
Through the trials, Mann testified that Weinstein had raped her in 2013 at a Manhattan resort. She described him holding the door shut as she tried to depart, after which he informed her to undress and had intercourse along with her.
The protection has maintained that the encounter was consensual, referencing the pleasant messages despatched by Mann, and questioning Mann on the character of their relationship, which at occasions included consensual intercourse.
After spending near seven years in jail, Weinstein, 74, has nonetheless served lower than half of his 16-year-sentence in California, the place he was discovered responsible of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and penetration by overseas object in opposition to Jane Doe 1. The previous mogul has maintained that the sexual encounters occurred however that they had been consensual. He has stated he’s going through numerous well being illnesses, together with together with bone marrow most cancers, persistent myeloid leukemia and coronary artery illness, and has been hospitalized throughout the years of proceedings. “No matter they suppose I did unhealthy in my life, I didn’t get the dying penalty. I’m going to be 74 in March. I don’t wish to die in right here,” he stated in a January interview with THR.
In her assertion to the courtroom, Mann recounted her experiences throughout the previous a number of trials, saying she felt her credibility and repute had been picked aside by the media and prosecutors and that she feels mistreated by the courtroom system, “In all of this ordeal, I used to be handled as if I used to be the particular person on trial,” she wrote.
In the meantime, she stated she believed it “thrills Harvey Weinstein to beat the system he believed he’s superior to.” She added that she had suffered a concussion earlier than taking the stand on the final trial, which she feels might have altered her means to speak successfully on the stand.
“After a whole lot of thought and reflection, I’ve chosen to not proceed at a fourth trial in opposition to Harvey Weinstein for raping me in March of 2013 in Manhattan. It was clear to me at this final trial I may not endure going by means of this any longer. In my combat to see justice, it has almost stolen a decade of my life and put me by means of extra hurt than good. It has modified me in irrevocable ways in which I reside with completely — that there is no such thing as a restitution for. A value I’ve been prepared to pay again and again,” Mann stated.
“The courtroom gave so many privileges to Harvey Weinstein that it makes accountability almost unimaginable. I’ve not had energy or place in any of this. I’ve not had nice wealth, nor have I had my very own long run authorized illustration. I solely had the courts and the methods it permits sexual predators to defend a jury from a magnitude of their actions and previous crimes and fees — made Justice unimaginable for me,” she continued.
