‘Playground' drama in jury room threatens to derail Harvey Weinstein's NY sex crimes retrial
Juror No. 7, described as a 25-year-old 'computer kid,' told the judge he'd heard other members of the panel gossiping about one of their own in an elevator at Manhattan Supreme Court after deliberations Thursday.
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'The experience I've had in the day-and-a-half here, in good conscience, I don't think this is fair and just,' the juror told the court Friday morning when he was brought to the witness box to explain why he wanted to be dismissed.
He described the chaotic scene behind closed doors as 'playground stuff,' with some on the panel of seven women and five men ignoring fellow jurors as they weighed the charges against Weinstein.
'There's a bit of shunning happening,' the young man said — before pleading for Judge Curtis Farber to dismiss him from the case.
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Farber told the juror that there was no backing out, reminding him he 'took an oath' of service and that the trial would 'fall apart' if he left now.
One of the 12 jurors was excused on Thursday after complaining of illness, and replaced with an alternate. The remaining three alternate panelists were then dismissed, meaning there would be no one to step in for Juror 7 if he was let off.
Weinstein, 73, sat in his wheelchair and stared ahead without any visible reaction during the judge's questioning of the juror.
When the court reconvened after the lunch break, Weinstein's attorney, Arthur Aidala, asked for a mistrial claiming that the judge should have questioned the juror further and asked more in-depth queries to get to the bottom of the elevator beef and the drama inside the jury room.
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4 Weinstein's attorney Arthur Aidala moved for a mistrial after a juror complained about 'playground' drama inside the deliberation room.
Michael Nagle
'He looked at me right in the eyes and said, 'What's going on in there is not fair and unjust!'' the attorney said theatrically, launching into a 10-minute monologue as the judge quietly flicked through papers.
Aidala described the juror as a '25-year-old kid who lives with his grandmother who is a computer kid' — and who had the 'guts' to go to the court with his concerns, which should not be minimized.
'He looked at me right in the eyes and said, 'What's going on in there is not fair and unjust!'' Aidala railed.
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Prosecutors said Weinstein's attorneys were 'grasping for straws' in their latest attempt at a mistrial, the sixteenth such bid Aidala has made so far in the case.
The judge didn't even blink before he quickly shot down the bid to derail the trial.
'Nothing in his statement stated that the tensions in the jury room were abnormal tensions during deliberations,' Farber shot back at Aidala.
4 Polish model Kaja Sokola said that Harvey Weinstein molested her when she was 16.
Steven Hirsch
The jury began deliberating at 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning after hearing five weeks of testimony from three accusers — former TV production assistant Miriam 'Mimi' Haley, Polish model Kaja Sokola and former actress Jessica Mann — who all said that Weinstein had raped them.
The panelists, so far during their deliberations, have asked for readbacks of testimony from two victims about the alleged sexual attacks.
Weinstein's attorneys claim that the former Miramax boss is the 'poster boy' of cancel culture and that his relationships with the alleged victims were 'transactional,' consensual sexual encounters.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said during closing arguments that Weinstein — accused of sexual conduct by more than 80 women — wielded his 'power and influence' to rape the three accusers.
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4 Weinstein's attorneys' attempt of a mistrial has been denied more than a dozen times at trial.
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Weinstein, who maintains his innocence, was originally found guilty at trial in 2020 of criminal sex act and rape and given a 23-year prison sentence — but New York's highest court tossed the conviction last year.
If convicted at the retrial, Weinstein would face up to 25 years in prison on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, and four years in prison on third-degree rape.
The Hollywood creep was separately convicted in California of raping an Italian model at a film festival in 2013, where he is currently serving a 16-year prison term. He has appealed that conviction.
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