Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial

Harvey Weinstein in New York sexual assault retrial — Weinstein's 2020 conviction was a 'watershed moment for the #MeToo movement'

(Image credit: Angela Weiss / AFP / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

What happened

A New York jury Wednesday found Harvey Weinstein guilty of one criminal sexual act, acquitted him of a second such charge and was still deliberating on a third-degree rape count. The mixed and partial verdict came at the end of a retrial of similar charges from 2020. New York's highest court last year overturned Weinstein's 23-year prison sentence from that trial, ruling 4-3 that the judge improperly allowed women not directly involved in the case to testify about their alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein.

Who said what

The retrial jury found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley and acquitted him of assaulting model Kaja Sokola. Sokola's lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, said that while it wasn't the "verdict she deserved," it "helped bring down a man who believed he was untouchable." Sokola said she was "relieved" Weinstein would remain in prison.

Weinstein's 2020 conviction was a "watershed moment for the #MeToo movement," The New York Times said. "This trial was fair until we got to the jury deliberations," his publicist, Juda Engelmayer, said Wednesday. Weinstein, 73, did not testify but he asked for a mistrial in court after the jury foreman told the judge he was being bullied during deliberations. "Jurors fight," Justice Curtis Farber said, denying the request. "They act childish at times."

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What next?

The jury will deliberate again today on the third charge. Weinstein faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for Wednesday's conviction. He is also appealing a 16-year sentence he received at a sex crimes trial in Los Angeles in 2022.

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.