Harvey Weinstein will not be retried on rape and assault charges that left LA jury deadlocked
News stems from Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial, which ended with his conviction on rape and sexual assault charges
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Harvey Weinstein will not be retried on rape and sexual assault charges that had previously left a jury deadlocked.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson announced the decision to Superior Court Judge Lisa B Lench at a hearing in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
The charges stem from Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial, which ended in December 2022 with his conviction of the rape and sexual assault of one woman. In addition to those charges, jurors either acquitted Weinstein or failed to reach a verdict on other charges.
The LA case marked Weinstein’s second criminal trial. His first took place in New York, where Weinstein was convicted in 2020 of third-degree rape and a criminal sexual act. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in the New York case, and 16 additional years in the LA case.
Following Tuesday’s announcement, Judge Lench dismissed the corresponding charges. She said Weinstein will now return to New York. He has appealed his conviction there, and his attorneys have plans to appeal his conviction in LA too.
The charges related to Tuesday’s hearing, on which jurors had failed to reach a verdict, include a rape count and a sexual assault count involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, and a sexual battery count involving model Lauren Young. Young said at the hearing Tuesday that she was disappointed prosecutors would not be moving forward with a retrial, the AP reported.
Thompson said that Weinstein would likely only face an additional year in prison if retried on her count, and while he wanted all the victims to receive justice, that additional stretch was not worth another trial.
Weinstein was acquitted of a count of sexual battery against a massage therapist in the LA case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report