Harvey Weinstein’s Manhattan rape retrial ended in a mistrial for the second time on Friday 15 May, after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charge that he raped Jessica Mann.
Defence counsel, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse that the hung jury had split 9–3 in favour of acquittal, with nine jurors voting not guilty and three voting guilty.
The jury was majority-male, with eight men and four women. According to jurors speaking to the press after court adjourned, all four female jurors voted to acquit while three male jurors voted to convict Weinstein.
Mann is a hairstylist and actress who testified that she had a years-long relationship and some sexual encounters with Weinstein. However, she said on the stand that Weinstein “trapped” her into a 2013 encounter inside a Manhattan hotel room, telling jurors through sobs, “I said ‘no’ over and over, and I tried to leave”.
Weinstein’s lawyers argued that the encounter was consensual, with Marc Agnifilo describing the pair as having had “a sweet, loving, supportive relationship” and pointing to Mann’s later communications with Weinstein.
#MeToo
The 2017 sexual assault allegations against Weinstein helped catalyse the #MeToo movement, generating global attention to sexual assault, particularly in the workplace.
Weinstein remains imprisoned in Rikers Island jail complex on sex-crime convictions in New York and California.
He was first convicted in New York in 2020, including for third-degree rape of Mann, and sentenced to 23 years. However, the conviction was overturned in 2024 after the New York Court of Appeals found he had not received a fair trial. In 2025, a Manhattan jury deadlocked on the Mann rape charge, resulting in the first mistrial.
Weinstein remains in custody while serving a separate 16-year California sentence for rape.
Since Wednesday 13 May, the jury had been in deliberations. Proceedings ended early Wednesday afternoon after Marc Agnifilo told the court that Weinstein was experiencing chest pains while waiting elsewhere in the courthouse. Judge Curtis Farber dismissed jurors for the day, telling them only that court was ending early for “unforeseen reasons”.
At 11:30 on Friday, jurors sent a note indicating that they could not reach a unanimous verdict. Farber initially instructed them to continue deliberating, reminding them that any verdict must be unanimous and that they should not surrender honestly held views merely to reach agreement.
The judge urged jurors to resume deliberations with open minds, to consider one another’s views respectfully, and to decide the case only on the evidence and the law. The instruction, known as a deadlocked-jury or Allen charge, is commonly used in the United States when jurors report that they cannot reach a unanimous verdict.
Judge Farber later declared a mistrial after the jury submitted a note at 1:05, reading, “We cannot come to a unanimous decision. We feel that no one is going to change where they stand”. Weinstein remained visibly stoic as the judge spoke.
Retrial decision
A hearing was set for 25 June to determine whether prosecutors will pursue a third trial on the unresolved rape charge.
“We will consider our next steps in consultation with Ms Mann, and in consideration of Harvey Weinstein’s pending sentencing following last year’s trial conviction for forcibly sexually assaulting Miriam Haley,” the Manhattan District Attorney’s office wrote in a statement. “As always, we will continue to prosecute crimes of sexual violence – no matter who the defendant is – in a survivor-centered manner that uplifts their voices in the pursuit of justice.”
In addition to Marc Agnifilo, Harvey Weinstein was represented by attorneys Teny Geragos and Jacob Kaplan, with Bella Irwin serving as a paralegal.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Nicole Blumberg led the prosecution, alongside ADAs Shannon Lucey, Matthew Colangelo, and Becky Mangold.
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