Judge declares a mistrial in Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial after jury says it is deadlocked

New York — Harvey Weinstein’s retrial on rape charges ended Friday in a mistrial after a jury deadlocked in the closely watched #MeToo case on which another jury failed to reach a decision last year.

While the former Hollywood mogul has been convicted of other sex crimes on two US coasts and remains behind bars, the mistrial leaves the New York rape charge in limbo after three trials.

A jury in Manhattan, with a majority male, was examining whether Weinstein raped Jessica Mann, a hairdresser and actress. Weinstein’s lawyers said the meeting was consensual. It happened in 2013 during a fraught relationship between Weinstein, who was then married, and Mann, who was decades younger than him.

Signs of stalemate appeared on Friday, a few hours into the third day of deliberations. Jurors sent a note saying they “concluded they could not reach” a unanimous verdict. Judge Curtis Farber ordered the group to continue deliberations. That’s generally what New York judges do, at least the first time a jury says they’re stuck.

An appeals court overturned his 2020 New York conviction on charges involving Mann and a co-defendant. In a retrial last year, jury deliberations broke down amid infighting over Mann’s part of the case, leading to the current retrial. Weinstein faces a charge of third-degree rape.

Mann, 40, testified that she willingly had some sexual interludes with the then-married producer, but he subjected her to unwanted sex that day after she repeatedly said no.

Weinstein’s lawyers confirmed that Mann then continued to see Weinstein after the encounter and express warmth toward him. Mann said she was overwhelmed with complicated feelings about her, herself and what happened.

Her view changed in 2017, when a series of allegations against Oscar-winner Weinstein prompted a #MeToo campaign. Some of these accusations led to criminal convictions against Weinstein in New York and California.

Weinstein, 74, said he “behaved wrongly” but never assaulted anyone.

The current jury heard nearly three weeks of testimony, including five days from Mann. Weinstein did not testify.

The Associated Press does not generally identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted. But Mann agreed to give his name.