The foreperson said he believed the jury was tasked only with considering “what happened at the time, in the moment” of the crimes alleged by the prosecution, but others “are pushing people, talking about his past.”
“I feel it is not fair taking the decision about the past,” the foreperson said. He added that others pushed people “to change their minds,” when he thought they instead should seek to answer one another's questions and “let that person make a decision.”
He didn’t specify what parts of Weinstein's past came up. An Oscar-winning movie producer, Weinstein was one of Hollywood's most powerful figures until a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him became public in 2017, fueling the #MeToo movement and eventually leading to criminal charges.
After hearing from the juror, defense lawyer Arthur Aidala implored Farber to declare a mistrial, calling it a “tainted," “rogue” and “runaway" jury.
“People are considering things that were not brought into this trial as evidence," Aidala argued in court without jurors in earshot. "It's not fair. They are talking about the past. It’s not about the past.”
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued that the juror’s concerns didn’t warrant a mistrial, noting that some aspects of Weinstein’s past were allowed into evidence. His accusers were allowed to say they had other unwanted sexual encounters with Weinstein besides those underlying the charges, and they were permitted to mention seeing the groundswell of allegations against Weinstein in the news media in 2017.
Farber denied the mistrial request but brought jurors in for a reminder to weigh evidence presented during the trial. At the jury's request, he also went over the definition of reasonable doubt and rules about conducting deliberations — requests that suggested they remained far apart on a verdict.
Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of committing a criminal sex act and one count of rape. The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating on Thursday.
The foreperson signaled his concerns in a note to the judge Monday just after jurors returned to court for a third day of deliberations. He wrote that he wanted to speak to the judge “about a situation that isn’t very good.”
Farber decided to hear the foreperson’s concerns in his robing room, outside the view of reporters, the public and Weinstein, who waived his right to sit in on the discussion. The judge later said he held the conversation in private “solely for purposes of enabling that juror to speak freely.” A transcript of the conversation was made available later.
In another signal of divided sensibilities among jurors, another one asked to speak to the court before the judge and lawyers had resolved how to address the foreperson’s complaint. And that juror, who was soon brought into court solo, gave an upbeat readout.
“I think things are going well today,” said the woman. ”We're making headway."
She noted that the "tone is very different" than on Friday when still another juror asked to be excused because he felt other jurors were treating one member of the panel in an "unfair and unjust" way.
The judge told that juror to keep deliberating and also denied a defense request for a mistrial over the issue.
After the third juror relayed her impressions Monday, deliberations continued for roughly an hour before the jury contacted the court again.
This time, the panel wanted among other things to re-hear a psychologist's testimony about why sexual assault victims may continue to have relationships with their attackers. The psychologist didn't treat any of Weinstein's accusers but testified for prosecutors as an expert.
Weinstein was originally convicted in New York in 2020 of rape and sexual assault against two women in a verdict considered a landmark in the #MeToo movement.
But the conviction was subsequently overturned, leading to his retrial — with an additional accuser added last year — before a new jury and a different judge.
Weinstein was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape.
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