Harvey Weinstein Judge Declares Mistrial on Aggravated Factors
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The judge in Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial declared a mistrial Tuesday on aggravating factors that could have lengthened the disgraced mogul’s prison sentence.
The jury had been weighing whether Weinstein carried out the rape of a Russian model and actress dubbed Jane Doe 1 with planning, sophistication or professionalism, and whether Jane Doe 1 was particularly vulnerable.
The jury was hung on those questions, with 10 panelists favoring guilty verdicts with aggravating factors and two favoring nonguilty verdicts.
Weinstein faces up to 18 years in prison from his conviction in the main portion of the trial, in which he was found guilty on three of seven felony counts. That sentence could have risen to 24 years if the jury had agreed the aggravating factors had been met.
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On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench informed the L.A. courtroom before the jury came in that it was deadlocked and she would not be asking them to deliberate further and would declare a mistrial.
On hearing the news, Weinstein clasped his hands as if in prayer and stared at the jury as Lench thanked them.
“It has been a long road,” she said. “You have weathered it remarkably.”
Weinstein is still set to be sentenced for the three counts on which he was convicte. Asked by defense attorney Mark Werksman for a speedy sentencing by Jan. 9, Lench said she was unsure if that was possible. Prosecutor Paul Thompson also said the district attorney’s office needs to decide whether it will retry Weinstein on the three counts on which the panelists were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
On Monday, the panel of nine men and three women convicted Weinstein on three felony counts including forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and forcible penetration by a foreign object, but was hung on three other counts – including allegations brought by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom — and found the disgraced movie mogul not guilty on a seventh charge.
Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence on criminal first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape stemming from a trial in New York in 2020, a conviction he has been granted the right to appeal.
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