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By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — The foreperson of the jury deliberating in Harvey Weinstein ’s #MeToo retrial told the judge Monday that some jurors are ganging up and “pushing people to change their minds” based on information that wasn’t presented in court.
“They fight together and I don’t like it,” the foreperson said in a closed-door conversation with Judge Curtis Farber and the prosecution and defense teams. The foreperson indicated to them that he’s made a decision, “and I don’t want to change my mind.”
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala implored Farber to declare a mistrial, calling it a “tainted jury” and a “runaway jury.”
“People are considering things that were not brought into this trial as evidence,” Aidala argued. Jurors, he said, “are pushing people to change their minds. It’s not fair. They are talking about the past. It’s not about the past.”
Farber denied the mistrial request but said he would remind jurors that they must only weigh evidence that was presented to them during the trial and to disregard anything else they may know about the former movie mogul.
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. They included some accusers who recounted seeing a groundswell of allegations against Weinstein in the news media in 2017.
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.”
Jurors also asked to be reminded of the definition of reasonable doubt and rules about avoiding a hung jury, suggesting they remained far apart on a verdict.
After Farber read the requested instructions, another juror hung back and updated the judge on the “temperature” of deliberations.
“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 a different juror asked to be removed because he felt other jurors were treating one member of the panel in an “unfair and unjust” way.
The judge told that juror, a young man, that he had to keep deliberating and also denied a defense request for a mistrial over the issue.
Farber said he decided to hear the foreperson’s concerns in his robing room, outside the view of reporters and the public “solely for purposes of enabling that juror to speak freely.” A transcript of the conversation will be made available, the judge said. Weinstein waived his right to be present for the closed-door conversation.
Afterward, Weinstein’s lawyers returned to the courtroom and huddled around the court stenographer’s machine, jotting down notes while Farber heard another, unrelated case.
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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