Prosecutors drop rape charge against Harvey Weinstein, avoiding 4th trial
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Thursday it would drop an unresolved rape charge against Harvey Weinstein rather than move forward with a fourth trial.
The alleged victim, Jessica Mann, had testified in three prior trials but said in a letter she could no longer endure the pain of repeatedly recounting what she alleged happened to her.
"Today, following discussions with Jessica Mann, who does not wish to testify again, and in accordance with our survivor-centered approach to prosecutions, we informed the court that we will not retry the remaining count of Rape in the Third Degree," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Thursday.
"To be clear, we believe Ms. Mann's account and her credibility as a witness," he continued. "This has been an extraordinarily taxing ordeal for her, and she has never wavered while testifying in front of two grand juries and three trial juries over the course of eight years. We thank her for her honesty and her tremendous bravery."
He added, "In consideration of Ms. Mann's stance, and in recognition of Mr. Weinstein's class B felony conviction for violently sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, we will not pursue a fourth trial and therefore moved to dismiss the remaining count."
Bragg said his office has recommended to the court that Weinstein be sentenced to 20 years in prison "which would account for the significant harms his actions have caused Ms. Haley."
"I want survivors of sexual violence in Manhattan to know that we believe you, and we will fight for you," he added. "We stand with survivors, today and every day."
In a letter filed with the court this week, Mann wrote about her decision not to move forward with a fourth trial against Weinstein, who she alleged raped her in March 2013 in a Manhattan hotel.
"It was clear to me at this last trial I could no longer endure going through this any longer," she wrote. "In my fight to see justice, it has nearly stolen a decade of my life and put me through more harm than good. It has changed me in irrevocable ways that I live with permanently -- that there is no restitution for. A cost I have been willing to pay over and over."
Weinstein was convicted in 2020 of criminal sexual assault and rape in the third degree and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was acquitted of predatory sexual assault and rape in the first degree.
In 2023, Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape and sexual assault in a separate Los Angeles trial. His sentence is slated to be served consecutively after serving his sentence in New York.
In 2024, the New York Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein's 2020 conviction, finding the Manhattan trial judge "erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complaints of the underlying crimes."
In January, a judge set a tentative date for Weinstein's retrial on a charge of raping Mann.
Mann testified again during Weinstein's 2025 retrial. Weinstein was convicted on one count of engaging in criminal sex but acquitted on a second count. A jury was unable to reach a verdict on the third count of rape involving Mann.
In her letter to the court this week, Mann wrote, "The court gave so many privileges to Harvey Weinstein that it makes accountability nearly impossible. I have not had power or position in any of this. I have not had great wealth, nor have I had my own long term legal representation. I only had the courts and the ways it allows sexual predators to shield a jury from a magnitude of their actions and past crimes and charges -- made Justice impossible for me."
She ended her letter by writing, "Respectfully and with honor I end this season of my life and no longer want to participate in criminal proceedings against Harvey Weinstein, the man who raped me."
Weinstein previously pleaded not guilty to assaulting Mann and has said his sexual encounters were consensual. In January, ahead of his retrial, he made a statement in court insisting that he had never attacked anyone.
