WEINSTEIN JURY MAY BE DEADLOCKED ON 2 COUNTS
Jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial sent a note to the judge Friday suggesting that they were deadlocked on the most serious charges in the indictment but also that they might have reached a verdict on three other counts.
In their note, on the fourth day of deliberations, the jurors asked if they were allowed to return a unanimous verdict on the three lesser charges on their verdict sheet, which include rape and criminal sexual act, but remain split on the two charges of predatory sexual assault, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
“We the jury request to understand if we can be hung on 1 and /or 3 but unanimous on the other charges,” the note read, referring to
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the counts in the indictment. The note did not say what the jury had decided on the lesser counts.
Weinstein’s lawyers said they would accept a partial verdict, but prosecutors said they were not yet willing to do so, and Justice James M. Burke refused to allow it.
Instead, the judge told the jurors to keep deliberating, saying they were in a “critical stage.” He urged them to renew their efforts to reach an agreement with an open mind.
The trial was adjourned minutes later because Donna Rotunno, Weinstein’s lead defense lawyer, had to attend a funeral. The judge sent the jurors home for the weekend as speculation mounted over what the note meant. Deliberations will resume Monday.
The case against Weinstein, 67, was built primarily on the accusations brought by two women: Miriam Haley, 42, a former production assistant who testified that Weinstein forced oral sex on her at his lower Manhattan home in 2006; and Jessica Mann, 34, an actress who said Weinstein raped her in a midtown Manhattan hotel room in 2013.
Weinstein is charged with criminal sexual act in Haley’s case and with two counts of rape in Mann’s.
But because of how the indictment is written, the predatory sexual assault charges depend on the jury also finding that Weinstein is guilty of raping actress Annabella Sciorra.
Sciorra, 59, testified that Weinstein barged into her Gramercy Park apartment and raped her in the early 1990s. Though her rape allegation is too old to be charged as a separate crime under state law, it can be used to prove the sexual predator charge.
Since deliberations began Tuesday, jurors have asked to review Sciorra’s testimony and the testimony of her friend Rosie Perez. Perez, who is also an actress, testified that Sciorra told her she thought she had been raped and later identified Weinstein as her attacker.
On Tuesday, Burke instructed the jury to begin with the first count, which is predatory sexual assault for the alleged attacks on Haley and Sciorra. Next, the jury was to consider the third count: a predatory sexual assault charge related to Mann and Sciorra. Those counts require the jurors to find Sciorra’s testimony credible.
After deciding those serious charges, jurors were instructed to move on to the lesser charges: first-degree criminal sexual act for the alleged assault of Haley, and first-degree rape or thirddegree rape for the alleged attack on Mann.
Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, said the note suggested that the jury was leaning toward convicting Weinstein on one of the lower charges. “What it means is Weinstein has a lot to worry about if the jury doesn’t change its mind,” he said.
But Matthew Galluzzo, a New York defense lawyer and a former Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor, cautioned that interpreting a jury’s note can be tricky. The question in note, for instance, may be hypothetical.
Still, the note prompted speculation among legal experts and people closely watching the trial that the panel was leaning toward at least one guilty verdict. If convicted of rape or criminal sexual act, Weinstein could face a range of penalties, from probation to up to 25 years in prison.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and claims all of his sexual encounters with his accusers were consensual and transactional. His lawyers said the women wanted to advance their own careers.