OAN Staff Jenna Lee
3:11 PM – Friday, May 15, 2026
Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape retrial ended in a mistrial on Friday after the jury hopelessly deadlocked, marking yet another major setback for prosecutors in the defining case of the #MeToo era.
Signs of the stalemate first emerged early in the third day of deliberations when the Manhattan jury sent a note to Judge Curtis Farber stating they had concluded they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Though the judge initially issued a modified deadlock charge urging them to keep trying, the jurors quickly countered with a second note declaring that no one was going to change their position, prompting the mistrial.
This breakdown leaves the specific third-degree rape charge in legal limbo for the second consecutive year, as a previous jury in 2025 had also failed to reach a verdict on the exact same count involving accuser Jessica Mann.
“After hearing the testimony three separate times, and after two different juries were unable to reach a unanimous decision, maybe it’s time for the District Attorney to stop retrying the same case and focus resources on the actual crimes impacting New Yorkers every day,” said a spokesperson for Weinstein to Fox News
The Manhattan jury was tasked with deciding whether Weinstein raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013, an incident that occurred during a fraught relationship between the decades-younger Mann and the then-married producer.
This specific allegation was previously part of Weinstein’s 2020 New York conviction, which was ultimately overturned by an appeals court. During a subsequent 2025 retrial involving multiple accusers, jury deliberations broke down amid intense infighting specifically regarding Mann’s portion of the case, which triggered the current standalone retrial.
Throughout the proceedings, Mann testified that while she had “willingly participated in some sexual interludes” with Weinstein during their relationship, he subjected her to unwanted sex on the day in question after she repeatedly refused his advances.
Weinstein’s defense team heavily countered this narrative by emphasizing that Mann continued to see him after the alleged assault, pointing to messages where she expressed warmth and affection toward him.
Mann argued that she was initially stuck in complicated and conflicting feelings about herself, Weinstein, and the encounter, but her perspective shifted entirely in 2017 when a wave of public allegations against the producer propelled the global #MeToo movement, eventually resulting in criminal charges against him in both New York and California.
Following the mistrial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg expressed disappointment with the outcome but stated that his office deeply respects the justice system. A court hearing has now been scheduled for June 24th to determine whether prosecutors will pursue a fourth trial on the unresolved charge.
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