Harvey Weinstein Rape Retrial Scheduled for April

Harvey Weinstein is scheduled to wheel into a criminal courtroom to begin a rape trial for a fourth time in six years on April 14, when New York prosecutors will try the disgraced movie mogul on a single accusation that ended in mistrial last year.

A Manhattan jury considered charges brought by three accusers in a June retrial that was triggered when a state appeals court overturned his 2020 conviction. The panel found Weinstein guilty of forcing former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam Haley to a sex act in 2006 and acquitted him of assaulting former model Kaja Sokola that same year, but could not reach a unanimous verdict on a lesser charge of third-degree rape involving aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.

The judge ordered jurors to continue deliberating that third count, but growing turmoil inside the jury room caused the foreperson to walk, claiming the other jurors were threatening and bullying him. Though a mistrial on that count was declared, prosecutors vowed to retry Mann’s case – which brings us to the April date.

Reports that Weinstein was considering a plea deal never came to fruition, and last week Weinstein retained a new legal defense team that includes Jacob Kaplan and Marc Agnifilo, who have been representing accused killer Luigi Mangione, and Teny Geragos, who recently defended Sean “Diddy” Combs against charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. All three appeared in Wednesday’s scheduling hearing.

His previous attorneys, led by Arthur Aidala, will stay on to pursue an appeal of Weinstein’s conviction in the 2025 New York case.

The outstanding third-degree rape charge carries a maximum prison sentence of four years in prison. The 73-year-old Weinstein still faces a 16-year prison sentence in California, which is also being appealed pending the outcome of the New York case.

The April retrial will begin nearly one year after a New York State Court of Appeals found that the trial judge who handed Weinstein’s case “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts,” allowing information to be presented that prejudiced the jury because the accusations weren’t part of the charges against him.

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