{"id":5665,"date":"2026-05-12T22:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=5665"},"modified":"2026-05-12T22:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:32:17","slug":"weinstein-defense-urges-acquittal-as-prosecutors-seek-to-revive-a-metoo-era-rape-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=5665","title":{"rendered":"Weinstein defense urges acquittal as prosecutors seek to revive a #MeToo-era rape conviction"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JENNIFER PELTZ<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Harvey Weinstein\u2019s defense urged jurors Tuesday to acquit him and put an end to a #MeToo-era rape case that has gone to trial three times, while prosecutors pressed to restore a onetime conviction that got unwound.<\/p>

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Weinstein, the former Hollywood honcho who has been imprisoned on various sex crime convictions since 2020, watched quietly as the two sides made their closing arguments about whether he raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a New York hotel in March 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has taken on a false narrative about all of this,\u201d Weinstein lawyer Marc Agnifilo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has absolutely no motive to lie. None,\u201d prosecutor Nicole Blumberg countered, noting that Mann went through five days of grueling, deeply personal testimony.<\/p>\n

Jurors are expected to start deliberating Wednesday. They will have to sift through the complexities of a yearslong relationship between Weinstein, 73, and Mann, 40.<\/p>\n

They met in early 2013, when she was trying to make it big in Hollywood. She testified that she anticipated a professional connection, was taken aback when he started making sexual advances but decided to have a relationship with the then-married, Oscar-winning producer.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, according to Mann, Weinstein abruptly took a room at a hotel where she and a friend were staying. She testified that she accompanied Weinstein upstairs to tell him she didn\u2019t want a sexual interlude, but he trapped her in the room, grabbed her arms, insisted she undress, went into the bathroom for a time, and then raped her.<\/p>

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\u201cHe just treated me like he owned me,\u201d she testified last month.<\/p>\n

Weinstein didn\u2019t testify, but his defense contends the encounter was consensual and part of a caring, if on-and-off, relationship that Mann valued until Weinstein\u2019s #MeToo downfall in 2017. That was when news reports about allegations against him propelled a global campaign against sexual assault and sexual harassment. He has said he behaved \u201cwrongly\u201d but never assaulted anyone.<\/p>\n

He was convicted in 2020 of raping Mann, got the conviction overturned, then saw a jury deadlock on it at a retrial last year.<\/p>\n