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Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Jury in Harvey Weinstein sex assault retrial reach a partial verdict
Jurors weighing the fate of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein said Wednesday that they had unanimously found him guilty of sexually assaulting one woman and not guilty of assaulting another more than a decade ago. But the jurors at Weinstein's retrial told the judge they were unable to reach a verdict on allegations he assaulted a third woman, and Judge Curtis Farber sent them home for the day and asked them to resume deliberating on Thursday. Weinstein, 73, had denied all the charges and his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were 'transactional' and 'consensual.' But the jury came to a different conclusion after five days of deliberations, during which the jury foreman told the judge several times they were having a hard time reaching a verdict and that several members of the panel had been clashing. Before the partial verdict was announced, the jury foreman told the court he'd been threatened by another member of the panel who told him, 'You know me, you going to see me outside.' 'I feel afraid inside there,' the juror told the judge, according to a transcript of the conversation supplied by the New York State Court. 'I can't be inside there.' Aidala immediately objected. 'You have a grown man who has now said that people have told him in the jury room they'll meet him outside,' Aidala said. 'He said it twice.' Farber dismissed that as 'schoolyard nonsense.' 'He is a big guy,' the judge said. 'He's not particularly scared. He's basically saying, 'I am not changing my mind.' He is not being intimidated to change his mind. He is standing his ground, which could be in your favor of the prosecution's favor.' Weinstein then asked to address the judge and made a last-minute plea, "this is not right for me, the person who is on trial here." "Lawyers can fight all they want," Weinstein said, seated in his wheelchair. "This is my life on the line. It's not fair. It's that simple. It's just not fair." Farber agreed this "was not a typical deliberation but it does happen" and the result of the deliberations in the third case could wind up being in favor of Weinstein. "It could be in my favor, but it's not fair," Weinstein replied. "That's the problem with this. ... This is over. " Minutes later, the jurors returned to the courtroom and rendered a partial verdict. Weinstein put his hands to his head after he was found guilty of criminal sexual act for the 2006 attack on former 'Project Runway' production assistant Miriam Haley. But Weinstein was found not guilty of a second charge of criminal sexual act stemming from allegations brought by former Polish runway model Kaja Sokola, who told the court she too was assaulted by the producer in 2006. The jury deadlocked on a rape in the third-degree charge that Weinstein was hit with for allegedly sexually assaulting former actress Jessica Mann. Haley's lawyer Gloria Allred spoke outside of the Manhattan courthouse following the partial verdict saying that the MeToo movement is not dead. 'The real hero of this case is Mimi Haley, because he was convicted not once, but twice, based on her testimony,' Allred said. Haley said the verdict left her feeling hopeful and said she hopes others will continue to speak out against against their abusers. 'To those predators who still believe they can exploit abuse and walk away unscathed. Your time is running out. The world is changing, and you will not outrun the consequences of your actions forever,' Haley said. Sokola said she was happy with the verdict, even though the jury did not convict Weinstein of assaulting her. 'It's a big win for everyone,' she said. 'For myself, it's closing of a chapter that caused me a lot of pain throughout my life.' Both Haley and Mann testified at Weinstein's first trial in 2020. Sokola's charge was new to the retrial. Weinstein found himself on trial again after the New York state Court of Appeals last year overturned his landmark 2020 conviction for sexually abusing young women, a trial that defined the #MeToo movement and helped turn the Oscar-winning producer into a pariah. The appeals court found that the judge in that trial had improperly allowed testimony against the former Miramax chief based on allegations that were not part of the case. 'If this person wasn't Harvey Weinstein, would we even be here?' Weinstein defense attorney Arthur Aidala asked during his closing argument in accusing the women of being grifters. Prosecutors, however, said Weinstein preyed on young women trying to make it in Hollywood, sometimes repeatedly, and threatened to wreck their careers if they talked. 'He never had any interest in their careers,' Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told the jury. 'He had an interest in their bodies. And he was going to have their bodies and touch their bodies whether they had wanted him to or not." Just as in 2020, Weinstein did not testify at his retrial. But he gave an interview to a FOX5 New York reporter after the jury began deliberations, saying that he acted "immorally" and regretted hurting his wife and family, but never did anything "illegal." "I put so many friends through this and hurt people … that were close to me, by the way, by actions that were stupid," he said. "But never illegal, never criminal, never anything." Much of the evidence that resulted in Weinstein being convicted five years ago of the third-degree rape of one woman and a first-degree criminal sex act against another woman was reintroduced at his retrial. Just as before, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape based on complaints by Haley and Mann. But this time, Weinstein also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of first-degree criminal sexual act in the alleged sexual assault of Sokola. Sokola told the court that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 at a Manhattan hotel when she was 19 years old. But the alleged abuse began in 2002, when she was 16 and Weinstein forced her to masturbate him, she said. 'Her first sexual experience was the defendant forcing himself on her,' Blumberg said. During his three-hour closing, Aidala tried to poke holes in the testimony of the three accusers. He suggested they were coached by prosecutors to describe the sexual encounters, which he likened at one point to 'naked twister,' in a sinister light. 'They did it all to get the original sinner, the poster boy of the MeToo movement,' Aidala said. The #MeToo hashtag took off in 2017 following reports in The New York Times and The New Yorker that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein that went back decades. It helped inspire a reckoning in Hollywood and beyond around sexual harassment. Weinstein, Aidala added, made for an easy target. 'He's a fat dude — sorry, Harvey,' he said while the former producer looked on. 'It's not really a casting couch I thought it was,' Aidala added. 'It's different now. I know it sounds crazy, but he's the one being used.' Blumberg painted a far different picture during the prosecution's closing remarks. 'I want to remind you why we are here,' she said. 'Because he raped three people.' Sokola and Haley both claimed that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in separate incidents in 2006. Mann told the court the producer raped her in 2013. Weinstein, Blumberg said, 'had tremendous control over Hollywood. He spoke, people listened. He decided who was in and who was out.' 'Remember, it's not the person sitting here today in a wheelchair but this man, in Hollywood, who had the power and was in control,' Blumberg said. Regardless of the verdict, Weinstein will most likely be returned to California where he has to serve a 16-year sentence for a 2022 rape conviction. His lawyers filed an appeal for that conviction in 2024 that is still in process. During his latest trial, Weinstein has been allowed to stay at Bellevue Hospital where he was being treated for a host of serious health issues. Back in October, two sources told NBC News that Weinstein had been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, an uncommon form of bone marrow cancer. Weinstein was a Hollywood titan in the 1990s and 2000s when he and his brother Bob ran Miramax, the distributor of critically acclaimed independent movies like 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape,' 'The Crying Game,' 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Clerks,' and box office successes like 'Chicago' and 'Bridget Jones's Diary.' In 1999, Weinstein won a best picture Oscar as one of the producers of 'Shakespeare in Love.' And in the early 2010s, his second distribution label, The Weinstein Company, won back-to-back best picture Oscars for 'The King's Speech' and 'The Artist.' But as Weinstein collected accolades, he was dogged by rumors that he preyed on his leading ladies and other women in the industry. By the time he was arrested, more than 80 women had accused him of sexual assault or harassment going back decades. Just as he did at his trials, Weinstein doggedly denied the claims and insisted the encounters were consensual. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sexual assault in New York retrial, acquitted on another charge
Harvey Weinstein, the fallen Hollywood executive whose decades-long history of alleged sexual assault sparked the #MeToo movement and calls against workplace harassment across entertainment and beyond, was found guilty of one 2006 sexual assault but acquitted on another from the same year in the high-profile retrial of his sex crimes case in New York. The majority-female jury handed down its split verdict after a week of deliberation. Weinstein was convicted in February 2020 of rape and a felony sex crime connected to individual allegations from accusers Jessica Mann and Mimi Haley, respectively. He was acquitted at the time on two charges of predatory sexual assault. A month later, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. A New York appeals court overturned Weinstein's rape conviction in April 2024. On Wednesday, he was convicted of forcing oral sex on Haley and acquitted of the same regarding former model Kaja Sokola. The jury was hung on a third charge of raping Mann in 2013, the Associated Press reported. Read more: Commentary: With his 'casting couch' defense, Weinstein continues to damage the culture he once ruled In closing arguments, which concluded June 4, Weinstein's defense attorney Arthur L. Aidala downplayed his client's alleged assaults as part of a "courting game" and said they were "transactional" exchanges of favors. According to Aidala, prosecutors were "trying to police the bedroom." Weinstein had become "the poster boy, the original sinner, for the #MeToo movement," he added. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg took a different tone, throwing Aidala's phrases back at the defense: 'This was not a 'courting game,' as Mr. Aidala wants you to believe. This was not a 'transaction." 'This was never about 'fooling around.' It was about rape," she said. Read more: Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of New York retrial Weinstein's retrial began April 23 and featured emotional testimony from former Weinstein Co. production assistant Haley and once-aspiring actor Mann, who returned to the stand, plus Sokola, who did not testify against the mogul in the 2020 trial. Judge Curtis Farber oversaw the proceedings. The disgraced Hollywood boss, 73, was tried on the allegations that led to his original rape and felony sex act conviction, plus a new sexual assault charge stemming from Sokola's allegation that he forced oral sex on her in 2006 when she was 19. Weinstein pleaded not guilty and his defense maintained the alleged sexual encounters were consensual. Before the jury reached its partial verdict, the jury foreperson expressed dismay to Farber about deliberation proceedings. Farber also heard from Weinstein, who urged him to halt the trial. The producer declared before the verdict, "it's just not fair." "My life is on the line, and you know what? It's not fair,' he said, after making an unusual request to address the court. 'It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time to say this trial is over.' Weinstein's reputation as a Hollywood star-maker was central to the prosecutors' opening statements. The Miramax co-founder "knew how tempting the promises of success were," prosecutor Shannon Lucey said during the first week of the trial. "He produced, he choreographed, he therefore directed, their ultimate silence." Weinstein attorney Aidala offered another take in his opening statements. He asserted that his client engaged in a Hollywood quid pro quo with the accusers, telling jurors, "the casting couch is not a crime scene." In their respective testimonies, the three women painted a picture of Weinstein as a Hollywood gatekeeper who leveraged his status to force himself upon women seeking professional opportunities. Haley, a former production assistant who worked on "Project Runway," was the first woman to testify against Weinstein in the second week of the trial. She alleged that he forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 at his New York apartment. Similar to her testimony in 2020, Haley, 48, detailed meeting the mogul at the Cannes Film Festival months before he allegedly sexually assaulted her. She said during the trial that she was only looking to further her professional career in Hollywood and not seeking sex or romance with the Oscar-winning "Shakespeare in Love" producer. 'It was just kind of like a sinking feeling that he wasn't taking me seriously at all," Haley said as she recalled Weinstein's alleged comments about her legs and suggestion that they give each other massages. During her testimony, which built on her previous account from the 2020 trial, Haley said she remained in contact with Weinstein for professional matters. In a February 2007 letter that wasn't seen at the first trial, she told Weinstein she would 'love [him] forever… and ever…' if he invested in her idea for an online series. Haley also claimed that after a separate encounter with Weinstein, she told the former Hollywood executive, "You know you can't keep doing this." Polish-born psychotherapist Sokola, 39, was the second accuser to testify against Weinstein. Though she sued Weinstein in 2019 for sexual assault and alleged emotional abuse, Sokola took the stand against him for the first time during the third week of the trial. Sokola broke into the modeling scene in her teens and met Weinstein at a nightclub during a 2002 modeling trip to New York, prosecutors said. The former Hollywood executive offered to help make her acting ambitions a reality, she testified, but then made unwanted physical advances, beginning when she was 16. The criminal charges against Weinstein stem from her allegation that he forcibly performed oral sex on her in a Manhattan hotel in 2006, just before her 20th birthday. She said the incident was the most "horrifying thing" she had ever experienced up to that point. Like Weinstein's other accusers, Sokola said she kept in touch with him after the assault but never had any romantic or sexual interest in him. During the fifth week of the trial, the third and final accuser, Mann, returned to a familiar scene: She took the stand in front of a New York jury once again and described her complicated relationship with Weinstein. She accused the producer of raping her in a New York hotel room in 2013. Mann, 39, said she met the Hollywood mogul in the 2010s after a move to Los Angeles to pursue acting and recalled that their subsequent meetings would devolve from professional to personal. Weinstein invited her into his glitzy world of entertainment, Mann said, but she was not attracted to him and refused his initial sexual advances. She testified she eventually succumbed to him performing oral sex on her because Weinstein allegedly threatened not to let her leave until she let him 'do something.' That encounter left her feeling "defiled," she told the jury, but she ultimately agreed to consensual encounters with Weinstein, who was married at the time. Wiping tears from her eyes, Mann recalled confronting Weinstein in 2013 after he booked a room at the New York hotel where she and a friend were staying. She joined Weinstein in his room to avoid a public argument and told him, 'I don't want to do this.' He shoved the door shut as she tried to leave, demanded she undress and grabbed her arms, she alleged. She said she "just gave up" and Weinstein raped her after injecting himself with a performance-enhancing drug. She said she kept the rape a secret and over the ensuing months nudged Weinstein about a movie part and remained cordial. 'I compartmentalized the part of Harvey that was hurting me,' she said. Mann detailed her attempts to keep a subtle distance, including declining invitations, meetings and a package from his office that she claimed contained cash. Throughout the trial, tensions ran high as Weinstein's defense team challenged the credibility and accuracy of the accusers' allegations and probed the nature of their respective relationships with the mogul. The "Gangs of New York" producer's legal team underscored that each of the women maintained contact with Weinstein after their alleged assaults. Defense attorneys also scrutinized each woman's motivations for pursuing legal action against Weinstein. Attorney Jennifer Bonjean declared in her cross-examination that it was "for the jury to decide" whether Weinstein sexually assaulted Haley, to which the accuser responded, "It's my experience" and "He did that to me" as she used expletives and cried. Bonjean also accused Haley of telling the news media "only part of the story" when she went public with her allegations in 2017. Haley denied the attorney's suggestion that she spoke out against Weinstein with hopes to sue, though she later filed a federal lawsuit against the producer in 2020 and received a roughly $475,000 settlement. In his cross-examination of Sokola, Weinstein attorney Michael V. Cibella pressed about the money the model had won in other civil proceedings against Weinstein. "It changed the course of your life in that you got $3.5 million from false accusations?" Cibella asked. "No. That's very unfair," Sokola replied. "That's not true." Cibella suggested it was Sokola who was taking advantage of Weinstein and claimed the former model's involvement in the retrial abetted her pursuit of various legal pathways to stay in the United States long-term. Additionally, Cibella pressed Sokola about a private journal she kept for an alcohol-abuse program in Poland. In the decades-old writing, Sokola wrote about people who had sexually abused her — notably omitting Weinstein. Sokola did write about a "Harvey W" who was "promising to help" her but nothing came from it. She left out Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse because she had not processed it at the time, she said during questioning. The defense examination of her diary — kept as part of her treatment for substance abuse — was "very inappropriate" and violating, she told Cibella. Read more: Contributor: One lesson from the Weinstein case is that men like me must speak out about abuse Mann also had her share of courtroom tensions with Weinstein and his legal counsel. During her second day of testimony, after detailing an alleged rape in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2004, Mann turned to the producer and aimed a finger at her eyes and then at him as she exited the courtroom. In response, Weinstein's defense attorney Aidala requested a mistrial because of Mann's gesture. He also took issue with her displays of emotion while talking about the alleged 2014 rape. Farber denied the request. After Mann returned to the stand, Aidala's line of questioning took an odd turn. The attorney asked how she faked an orgasm during her first sexual encounter with Weinstein so he would allow her to leave. Mann referenced a memorable scene in "When Harry Met Sally..." when Meg Ryan moans in a restaurant. Mann said she had been 'making noises' and Aidala began asking her to elaborate. Prosecutors jumped in to object. After the jury and Mann left for the day, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo criticized Aidala's line of questioning, saying it went "beyond the pale." During the trial jurors also heard from a physician-pharmacist, a former executive assistant for the producer, friends of Weinstein's accusers and employees from the hotels where he allegedly assaulted the women. Notably, jurors did not hear testimony from Weinstein himself. The producer, whose health has declined since his original New York conviction, had at one point considered testifying. 'He thinks that the evidence in this trial has been challenged very forcefully and that many of the complainants' stories have been torn apart,' Aidala said in the penultimate week of the trial. Read more: Harvey Weinstein is in recovery following emergency heart surgery Ultimately, Weinstein did not take the stand. He also did not testify during the 2020 trial in New York or a separate 2022 rape trial in Los Angeles. He was convicted of rape in Los Angeles in December 2022; his appeal in California hasn't been decided yet. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sexual assault in New York retrial, aquitted on another charge
Harvey Weinstein, the fallen Hollywood executive whose decades-long history of alleged sexual assault sparked the #MeToo movement and calls against workplace harassment across entertainment and beyond, was found guilty of one 2006 sexual assault but acquitted on another from the same year in the high-profile retrial of his sex crimes case in New York. The majority-female jury handed down its split verdict after a week of deliberation. Weinstein was convicted in February 2020 of rape and a felony sex crime connected to individual allegations from accusers Jessica Mann and Mimi Haley, respectively. He was acquitted at the time on two charges of predatory sexual assault. A month later, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. A New York appeals court overturned Weinstein's rape conviction in April 2024. On Wednesday, he was convicted of forcing oral sex on Haley and acquitted of the same regarding former model Kaja Sokola. The jury was hung on a third charge of raping Mann in 2013, the Associated Press reported. In closing arguments, which concluded June 4, Weinstein's defense attorney Arthur L. Aidala downplayed his client's alleged assaults as part of a 'courting game' and said they were 'transactional' exchanges of favors. According to Aidala, prosecutors were 'trying to police the bedroom.' Weinstein had become 'the poster boy, the original sinner, for the #MeToo movement,' he added. Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg took a different tone, throwing Aidala's phrases back at the defense: 'This was not a 'courting game,' as Mr. Aidala wants you to believe. This was not a 'transaction.' 'This was never about 'fooling around.' It was about rape,' she said. Weinstein's retrial began April 23 and featured emotional testimony from former Weinstein Co. production assistant Haley and once-aspiring actor Mann, who returned to the stand, plus Sokola, who did not testify against the mogul in the 2020 trial. Judge Curtis Farber oversaw the proceedings. The disgraced Hollywood boss, 73, was tried on the allegations that led to his original rape and felony sex act conviction, plus a new sexual assault charge stemming from Sokola's allegation that he forced oral sex on her in 2006 when she was 19. Weinstein pleaded not guilty to all those charges and his defense maintained the alleged sexual encounters were consensual. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tense scene at Weinstein trial as alleged perv appears to have medical episode after accuser's defiant gesture
Harvey Weinstein's Manhattan sex crimes retrial took a dramatic turn Tuesday when the accused serial perv apparently suffered a medical episode — sparking a frenzy of court officers to tend to him. The bizarre moment came after a former actress who accused Weinstein, 73, of raping her defiantly stared down the disgraced Hollywood producer after leaving the witness stand and pointed a finger at her eye, demanding that he look at her. The startling 'look at me' gesture by Jessica Mann, 38, prompted Weinstein's high-powered defense attorney Arthur Aidala to argue for a mistrial to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber. As Aidala contended that the trial should be tossed, Weinstein bizarrely made gurgling sounds — and two court officers quickly surrounded him. The wheelchair-bound Weinstein took a sip of water, bringing the brief episode to an end. Asked later if Weinstein had a medical episode, Aidala told The Post that the Miramax founder's already-poor health has been getting worse. 'The short answer is yes, but it was alleviated,' the attorney said. 'He's not doing well. The last two weeks there has been a marked difference in his physical appearance and his stamina. I don't know if its the cancer kicking in, but he's definitely suffering.' Mann's daring gesture came after she wrenchingly detailed to jurors, between sobs, an alleged rape by Weinstein at a Beverly Hills hotel. But the convicted sex pest could only shake his head in response, before he descended into gurgling. 'That's absolutely inappropriate behavior by her,' Aidala wailed to the judge. Prosecutors argued Mann's reaction didn't even come close to grounds for a mistrial — and Farber agreed, denying Aidala's bid. Mann later returned to the stand and continued to recount the alleged California hotel rape, which took place around the beginning of 2014, recounting for jurors how she had taken an hours-long shower afterward. 'I'm going to bury this so deep and I'm going to forget about this and move on with my life,' she said she told herself. Mann testified that she decided to 'keep going' to pursue her Hollywood dreams – and continued to have contact with the powerful Weinstein, which led to a consensual sexual relationship. She recounted that she faked orgasms to end uncomfortable sexual encounters with Weinstein. 'I'm not saying I performed her performance but I made noises,' she said, comparing her fake orgasms to that of Meg Ryan's character in an infamous scene from the 1989 romantic comedy 'When Harry Met Sally.' 'It was definitely not the best I ever had,' she added when Aidala asked if it was a lie. Mann's first day of testimony Monday saw her tearfully detail another alleged rape by Weinstein in a Midtown hotel. She testified that after the attack, she found an erection-inducing drug needle apparently used by Weinstein in a hotel room's garbage can with a puzzling label. 'I found on Google that it basically meant 'dead penis,' and you inject it and it can only be used a certain amount of times back to back over a certain time,' she told jurors. Weinstein is only charged in the Midtown alleged rape. He has pleaded not guilty to charges in his sex crimes retrial. Weinstein in 2022 was found guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault at a Los Angeles trial. He has appealed the conviction.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein jurors beg for coffee ‘for energy' as grueling, dramatic deliberations continue in NYC sex crimes retrial
Jurors weighing Harvey Weinstein's fate pleaded for a dose of caffeine as their grueling deliberations continued Monday — with yet another dramatic revelation about apparent dysfunction in the jury room. The third day of deliberations in Weinstein's Manhattan sex-crimes retrial ended without a verdict, and with a request from jurors for a cup of Joe when they return Tuesday morning. 'We the jury request coffee, tomorrow morning for energy,' read a note sent to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber. It came after more drama unfolded in the morning, when the panel sent notes to the court asking to be reminded of the definition of reasonable doubt and how to avoid a hung jury. A separate note accompanied that request, sent by the foreman, Juror No. 1, who said he needed to speak to the judge 'about a situation that isn't very good.' Juror No. 1, who had asked late Friday to speak to the court before changing his mind, expressed concern about 'something going on in the jury room' — later revealing that jurors have discussed Weinstein's general past. 'They are pushing people, talking about his past,' the juror said in a closed-doors meeting with attorneys, according to a transcript of the conversation. It's unclear what exactly from the disgraced Hollywood honcho's checkered past jurors were whispering about — but the disclosure was enough for Weinstein's attorney, Arthur Aidala, to demand an end to deliberations. 'He's coming to us crying for help. We don't send him into the lion's den without taking any action,' Aidala cried out in the meeting, before asking the judge for a mistrial. 'There is a tainted jury, there's jury misconduct.' Aidala charged. 'There's information in the jury room that we now know… People are considering things that were not in this trial as evidence.' Farber ultimately denied Weinstein's latest mistrial bid — the second such request made by Aidala over what appeared to be rising tension between jurors. The attorney also made a failed bid for a mistrial Friday after Juror No. 7, described as a 25-year-old 'computer kid,' asked to be dismissed from the case, saying that 'playground stuff' had broken out among the groups, with some on the jury gossiping about one of their own. 'The experience I've had in the day-and-a-half here, in good conscience, I don't think this is fair and just,' he told the court Friday morning when he was brought to the witness box to explain why he wanted to quit. Aidala, while arguing for the case to be tossed, said the judge should have questioned the juror further to inquire about the drama. But Farber shot down the bid, dismissing the juror's concerns as nothing more than typical 'abnormal tensions during deliberations.' The judge's guidance was confirmed by another juror, Juror No. 10, who provided a positive deliberations update just before noon Monday. 'I just basically wanted to give the temperature. I think that things are going well today,' the woman said. 'The tone is very different today. We're making headway.' The jury sent a flurry of notes to the court Monday — including asking for a re-reading of trial testimony from clinical psychologist Lisa Rocchio, who had explained why sexual assault victims might maintain contact with their attackers. They also asked for a laptop with emails and evidence from the testimony of Jessica Mann, a former actress who cried during her time on the stand as she graphically detailed an alleged 2013 rape by Weinstein. But the panel was notified that their coffee ask would be a 'tough no' — because the state doesn't provide anything but lunch for jurors during trials. 'As much as I would love to give you coffee, I'm powerless,' the judge said, drawing a smile from jurors before he suggested they all chip in to buy a jug of Joe from Dunkin' Donuts. The jury will resume its deliberations on Tuesday morning. Weinstein, 73, 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. The fallen Miramax founder faces up to 25 years in prison at his retrial on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, and four years in prison on third-degree rape. He has pleaded not guilty.
