A New York judge halted Harvey Weinstein’s sex crimes retrial Thursday, declaring a mistrial on the third-degree rape charge after the jury foreman refused to rejoin deliberations.
ABC News reports that a foreman told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Curtis Farber he feared his fellow jurors, claiming they yelled at him in an attempt to pressure his vote.
When asked if he would return to the jury room with 11 other jurors, the foreman declined, saying, “No, I’m sorry.”
The mistrial followed Weinstein’s conviction on one count of criminal sexual act involving Mimi Haley and his acquittal on a similar charge involving Kaja Sokola.
The third charge, which ended in a mistrial, stemmed from an alleged 2013 assault on aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
The New York Times reports that Farber dismissed the jury after announcing the mistrial, and acknowledged tensions in the deliberation room. He thanked jurors for their time and noted that disagreements sometimes intensify behind closed doors.
“This one was more heated than most,” he said. “That’s unfortunate.”
Farber said he had spoken with the remaining jurors, who expressed disappointment over the outcome but did not report any threats or extreme behavior. He noted that their account contradicted the foreman’s claims and said they couldn’t understand why he withdrew.
Weinstein clapped three “times when the juror” decided not to return for deliberations, The New York Post reports.
The prosecution reportedly said they were prepared to retry the final charge, while Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, urged the judge to dismiss it.
[Feature Photo: FILE – Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 4 2022. Opening statements are set to begin Monday in the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial. Weinstein is already serving a 23-year-old sentence for a conviction in New York. (Etienne Laurent/Pool Photo via AP, File)]
