Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault after New York retrial

Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assault in New York, after his sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year.

A panel of seven female and five male jurors deliberated for five days in the six-week trial before unanimously voting to convict the disgraced film mogul on one of three counts.

The jury found him not guilty of an additional sexual assault charge, and has yet to return a verdict on a charge of rape.

The conviction is in addition to a 16-year sentence that Weinstein has yet to serve after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles.

The trial was based on the testimony of three women - former television production assistant Miriam Haley, actress Jessica Mann, and model Kaja Sokola. All three accused Weinstein of using his power in the entertainment industry to sexually abuse them.

On Wednesday, jurors found Weinstein guilty of assaulting Ms Haley, but found him not guilty of assaulting Ms Sokola. They have yet to return a verdict on a rape charge involving Ms Mann, and plan to resume deliberations on Thursday.

Ms Haley said the verdict gave her "hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence and that the myth of the perfect victim is fading".

An appeals court overturned Weinstein's previous conviction for sex crimes in New York last April, finding the 73-year-old did not receive a fair trial in 2020 because a judge allowed testimony from women who made allegations against him beyond the charges at hand.

Weinstein was then indicted on new sexual assault charges in the state in September.

In a statement Wednesday, Weinstein's spokesperson said the trial was "fair until we got to the jury deliberations".

"More than one juror had complained that other jurors had preconceived notions and are using their beliefs of Harvey's life as evidence of guilt," the spokesperson said. "We believe there are serious appellate issues and they will be explored."

Jury deliberations have been tense over the past week. This week, the foreperson accused some jurors of "attacking" others and trying to change their minds. He said jurors were considering Weinstein's past and other allegations outside the realm of the case in making decisions. There were also allegations that one juror had threatened to fight another juror.

In the end, the judge said he would give the jury an instruction about only considering the allegations in the case, and nothing else.

Weinstein - who has cancer and diabetes - stayed at Bellevue Hospital rather than Riker's Island jail during the trial. He sat in a wheelchair for the proceedings.

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The retrial in New York centred on two women who brought allegations against Weinstein during his 2020 trial, Ms Mann and Ms Haley.

It also included new allegations from Ms Sokola, a Polish former model and actress, who accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her when she was 19. The jury on Wednesday found him not guilty in that assault.

Reacting to the verdict, Ms Sokola said she was “relieved that Harvey Weinstein will be held accountable for some of his crimes”.

“Coming forward was the hardest thing I've ever done. I owed it to myself, and to the other women who survived him, to make sure that the world knows what kind of man Harvey Weinstein is.

“Speaking out was an act of power and it allowed me to reclaim the pride and confidence he tried to take from me,” she added in a statement.

The three women testified for days about the sexual abuse they alleged they endured at the hands of Weinstein.

All three said they met Weinstein when they were young and looking for work opportunities in the entertainment industry. He then forced himself on them during private meetings at hotels and his homes, the women alleged.

His legal team argued that his sexual encounters with the women were all consensual and a sort of "friends with benefits" arrangement.

Weinstein's attorneys attempted to chip away at the credibility of the women, showing warm messages some of the women exchanged with the film mogul after the alleged assaults.

In total, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by more than 100 women. While not all reports resulted in criminal charges, the California conviction means he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The decision by his accusers to come forward, and his subsequent conviction in New York, galvanised the #MeToo movement against sex abuse by powerful men.

Before the allegations against him emerged, Weinstein and his brother Bob were among Hollywood's ultimate power players.

Weinstein co-founded Miramax film studio, whose hits included Shakespeare in Love, which won best picture at the Academy Awards, and Pulp Fiction.

Weinstein has also faced a number of civil lawsuits, including from a group of women who accused him of sexual harassment and rape. The case resulted in a $19m (£14.2) settlement in 2020.