New York rape charge against Harvey Weinstein dropped after accuser declines fourth trial

Prosecutors dropped a New York rape charge against Harvey Weinstein on Thursday after the accuser said she could not endure a fourth trial. The case had remained unresolved after an overturned 2020 conviction and two subsequent hung juries. Jessica Mann, a hairstylist and actor, had testified at all three trials that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.

Background of the case Mann described a complex on-and-off relationship with Weinstein and said she repeatedly tried to leave during the March 18, 2013 encounter. Weinstein has maintained that all encounters were consensual. In a letter read in court, Mann wrote that the eight-year case had “put me through more harm than good” and that she could “no longer endure going through this.”

“These charges should never have been brought to begin with. He is innocent.”

remaining convictions Judge Curtis Farber formally dismissed the case after prosecutor Nicole Blumberg told the court that prosecutors respect Mann’s decision. Weinstein, 74, left court with a neutral expression and returned to jail. He is scheduled for sentencing in September on a separate New York sexual assault conviction involving a different woman, where prosecutors seek a 20-year term.

After any New York sentence, he is due to serve 16 years in California for a rape conviction involving a third woman. Weinstein is appealing both convictions. The dropped charge carried a maximum sentence of four years, less time than he has already served.