Harvey Weinstein Defense Rests In NYC Rape Retrial; Closing Arguments Starting

Harvey Weinstein is one crucial step closer to learning what his fate will be at the hands of the jury in his New York rape retrial.

After a morning session in front of Judge Curtis Farber haggling over material that may or may not go to the jury (it won’t), Weinstein’s Arthur Aidala-led defense rested its case – without calling its client to testify for himself. Moving deftly, the proceedings are now in closing arguments, with Aidala pleading Weinstein’s merits before the jurors.

Closing arguments from the defense and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office are expect to go on for a few hours, but the plan is the jury will have the case by the end of the day. At that point, the seven-woman, five-man panel will go behind closed doors to come to their verdict.

 The 73-year-old once powerful producer will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars if the jury hearing his retrial in New York convicts him on any of the three charges against him.

Back in 2020, in Weinstein’s now dismissed first Empire State rape case,  the jury then took about five days to come to a verdict of guilty on two of five counts: third-degree rape and a first-degree criminal sexual act. In March of that year, an openly shocked Weinstein was sentenced to 23-years in state prison by now pink slipped  New York Supreme Court Judge James Burke.

In this retrial, while the single count of third degree rape that Weinstein is facing carries a maximum sentence of four years, each count of first-degree criminal sexual act carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. As well as the numerous cases of assaulting well-known actresses and models over the decades, prosecutors in the most benign way say Weinstein used his power and influence as an Oscar-winning producer and mini-studio boss to lure young women into his orbit. Offering what were almost always false promises of work and careers in film and television, Weinstein then often violently raped them or forced them into other unwanted sexual encounters.

Fronted by the flamboyant Aidala, Weinstein’s defense has sought to prove that the relationships between Weinstein and his accusers were long-running, consensual and mutually exploitive –-a “friends with benefits” arrangement, as Aidala said in opening arguments, where sex was traded for access to Weinstein’s professional network.

Jurors in the rape and sexual assault retrial heard from two accusers, Jessica Mann and Miriam Haley, who also testified in graphic detail against Weinstein five years ago in his first criminal trial in New York. A third accuser testifying in the retrial, Kaja Sokola, was not part of the 2020 case: Sokola’s accusation, that Weinstein assaulted her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2006, was the basis of a new charge — first-degree criminal sexual act — added to a revised grand jury indictment of the Pulp Fiction producer. 

Prosecutors secured the indictment last September, after Weinstein’s 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence were overturned in April of 2024. A New York Court of Appeals ruled that the judge overseeing Weinstein’s first trial, James Burke, had deprived the defendant of a fair trial by allowing uncharged testimony from other women who told jurors that Weinstein had sexually abused them.

“The court compounded that error when it ruled that defendant, who had no criminal history, could be cross examined about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light,” according to the 4-3 ruling. 

Weinstein did not testify at his first trial. The potential hazards of a wide-ranging cross examination were apparently a factor in his decision over the weekend to also not take the stand at the retrial. “He wanted to testify, and we respect that instinct,” Weinstein’s longtime spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Deadline on Monday. “At this stage, doing so would subject him to scrutiny far beyond the scope of the current charges — raising issues that could unfairly damage his credibility. Our position is one of caution, not evasion.”

Weinstein remains in custody in New York because of his 2022 criminal conviction in Los Angeles. He s appealing that conviction and 16-year prison sentence for raping and assaulting a woman, identified only as Jane Doe, in 2013.

Weinstein has denied ever committing rape or coercing anyone sexually. In a jailhouse interview last month with right-wing commentator Candace Owens, he said, “I swear that before God and the people watching now and on my family. I’m wrongfully accused. But justice has to know the difference between what is immoral and what is illegal.”

Since this retrial started in late April, the ailing Weinstein has shuttled between a downtown Manhattan courthouse and the jail wing of a nearby hospital, Bellevue. Citing his various ailments, as he has in previous trials at pivotal points, the once acclaimed producer has lobbied hard to stay out of New York’s infamous Rikers Island jail, telling Judge Farber the conditions there are life-threatening. Farber decided in the first week of the retrial to allow Weinstein to stay at the historic hospital during the proceedings.

On the subject of his medical needs ,Weinstein underwent emergency heart surgery in September  and was diagnosed with cancer in October.