in the sensational rape process around Harvey Weinstein the jury does not seem to agree on the most serious allegations. The twelve jurors asked the court whether they could give a unanimous verdict on three of the five charges and remain disagreed on the other two. The judge James Burke gave matching media reports according to that the court does not accept partial decisions and that the jury should continue its deliberations. Then he ended the day of the meeting. The jury will meet again on Monday.
According to reports, the jury disagreed on charges 1 and 3. These include the charge of “predatory sexual assault“, often translated in German as” predatory sexual attack “. This refers to a particularly serious or repeated sexual attack. Point 1 includes the allegations of his former production assistant Miriam Haley and actress Annabella Sciorra, and point 3 the allegations of rape of the former actress Jessica Mann and Sciorra: Sciorra accuses Weinstein of raping her in her apartment in the early 1990s – her case is statute-barred, but in American law the prosecution can also testify in the trial
take into account whose cases are already time-barred. If convicted, Weinstein could face a life sentence.
If the jury does not come to a unanimous decision on all charges, the trial could fail and would probably have to be reopened. This case a so-called hung jury it was about in the first trial Entertainer Bill Cosby given in June 2017. In April 2018, a new trial against him started that ended with a conviction,
Break for the MeToo movement
Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual assault. Since January, however, the worldwide attention to the New York trial has primarily been about two accusations: Miriam Haley forced to have oral sex and Jessica Mann Raped in 2013. The process is considered the turning point of the so-called MeToo movement, which was triggered by the case. With this catchphrase, countless women around the world gathered their own experiences with chauvinistic sayings, foul-mouthed behavior and sexual violence, which they recognized in the stories of the alleged Weinstein victims.
In recent weeks, the public prosecutor’s office has attempted to use the six main witnesses to draw a picture of Weinstein’s alleged behavior patterns, sometimes in drastic detail. In your The closing argument was made by prosecutor Joan Illuzzi him as a “rapist” who systematically exploited his power in the film industry to make himself compliant with young women, promised them career aid for sex and forced them to have sex if they said “no”.
The defense, on the other hand, gave the witnesses complicity and portrayed Weinstein as a victim. Women had exploited him for decades because of his influence and money and were aware of their actions and signals to him. All sex had taken place by mutual consent.
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