Prosecutors drop Weinstein’s unresolved rape charge
Harvey Weinstein avoided a fourth trial on a rape charge in New York after his accuser said he could not bear to testify again, prompting prosecutors to drop the Me Too-era case.
The movie mogul remains convicted of other crimes in New York and California and remains behind bars.
However, the rape charge in New York remained unsolved after the conviction was overturned after two death row juries.
The judge formally dismissed the charge on Thursday.
Weinstein had a neutral expression as court officials wheeled him out of court.
The Oscar-winning producer denies all accusations.
The rape charge related to the alleged rape of hairdresser and actor Jessica Mann at a Manhattan hotel in 2013.
Mann testified that she also had an occasional consensual relationship with Weinstein, who was married at the time.
But he told jurors he repeatedly tried to leave and said no to any sexual activity as he cornered him in his hotel room.
She said he persisted until she became afraid to continue protesting, demanding that he undress and hold her arms.
“After much thought and consideration, I have chosen not to pursue a fourth trial against Harvey Weinstein,” Mann wrote in a letter that the prosecutor read to the court.
“At this last hearing it became clear to me that I couldn’t take this anymore.”
The trial took a visible toll on Mann, 40, who testified over five days and was questioned for the first time about an unspecified, diary-like, soul-baring note she wrote two days after the alleged rape.
At one point during his testimony, Mann said he had trouble focusing, causing the court to end the day early.
Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said Thursday that prosecutors believed Mann and praised her “courage, strength, bravery and inspiration” to other survivors, but that “a dismissal was appropriate” considering her feelings about moving forward.
Meanwhile, Weinstein, 74, encouraged the early end of the trial by reporting chest pains during jury deliberations in the most recent trial.
“The interest of justice would never have been to file this lawsuit,” defense attorney Jacob Kaplan said.
Weinstein was one of the most powerful figures in the film industry and the producer of hits such as Shakespeare in Love, Pulp Fiction and Chocolat.
A series of sexual misconduct allegations against him were later made public in 2017, fueling the Me Too campaign for accountability and eventually leading to criminal charges.
Weinstein was convicted of raping Mann in 2020.
An appeals court later overturned that decision for reasons unrelated to his testimony.
Jury deliberations failed at a retrial in 2025, and jurors were again deadlocked at another retrial this northern hemisphere spring.
The rape charge in this case was a low-level crime punishable by up to four years in prison; That’s less time than Weinstein has already served.
He faces much longer prison sentences for his other separate convictions in New York and California, including for raping an Italian actress in Los Angeles.
Weinstein did not testify at any hearing, although he complained during and after the 2025 New York retrial that it was unfair; the judge disagreed.
Their lawyers argued that all the accusers, who were trying to get somewhere in show business, had completely consensual sexual relationships with a movie studio boss who might have helped them.
Weinstein himself said he “misbehaved but never attacked anyone.”
