Kuzma/iStock(NEW YORK) — The 12 New Yorkers deciding the fate of Harvey Weinstein began their second day of jury deliberations on Wednesday after asking the judge in the high-profile rape trial for legal clarification of the charges that could send the movie mogul to prison for the rest of his life.
The jury of seven men and five women went back to work at 9:30 a.m. after spending the first day mulling the reams of evidence and witness testimony presented to them over more than two weeks in the riveting trial in State Supreme Court in lower Manhattan.
The 67-year-old Weinstein, co-founder of the Miramax entertainment company and once considered one of Hollywood’s most powerful film producers, is charged with five felony counts for allegedly raping one woman, who is unnamed, in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on another, Miriam “Mimi” Haleyi, in 2006.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims any sexual encounters were consensual.
The jury received the case Tuesday morning and put in a full day of dissecting the complex evidence.
Prosecutors presented evidence of an alleged pattern of sexual predation, arguing Weinstein spent years wielding his power and position to victimize women and kept them silent about being assaulted by him.
Weinstein’s defense team countered that the two main accusers “re-labeled” consensual experiences as sexual assaults after the fall of 2017 when revelations about Weinstein broke in The New York Times and The New Yorker.
During the trial, the jury heard from 35 witnesses, including the two primary accusers and four other women, including “Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra, who allege attacks and predation.
Within the first hour of deliberations Tuesday, the Weinstein jury sent a note to the judge, asking for legal clarification of the charges the movie mogul faces.
Some time later, the jurors sent a second note asking for a blueprint of “the Soho apartment,” which is in reference to Weinstein’s former SoHo apartment on Crosby St. in Manhattan where Haleyi was allegedly sexually assaulted in 2006.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.