![\"Sexual](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/harvey-weinstein-defence-urges-acquittal-as-rape-retrial-nears-a-close.jpg\")
Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court (Steven Hirsch\/New York Post via AP)\n<\/p>\nHarvey Weinstein\u2019s defence has urged jurors to put an end to a MeToo-era rape case that has gone to trial three times, arguing that the former Hollywood producer should be acquitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just not true,\u201d lawyer Marc Agnifilo said as closing arguments began in the retrial of an allegation that Weinstein raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a New York hotel in 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has taken on a false narrative about all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court (Steven Hirsch\/New York Post via AP)\n<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has absolutely no motive to lie. None,\u201d prosecutor Nicole Blumberg countered, noting that Mann went through five days of gruelling, deeply personal testimony.<\/p>\n
Jurors, who are expected to start deliberating Wednesday, will have to sift through the complexities of a yearslong relationship between Weinstein, 73, and Ms Mann, 40.<\/p>\n
They met in early 2013, when she was trying to make it big in Hollywood. She testified that she anticipated a professional connection, was taken aback when he started making sexual advances but decided to have a relationship with the then-married, Oscar-winning producer.<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, according to Mann, Weinstein abruptly took a room at a hotel where she and a friend were staying.<\/p>\n
When she accompanied Weinstein upstairs to tell him she did not want a sexual interlude, she testified, he trapped her in the room, grabbed her arms, insisted she undress, went into the bathroom for a time, and then raped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just treated me like he owned me,\u201d she testified last month.<\/p>\n
Weinstein did not testify, but his defence contends the encounter was consensual and part of a caring relationship that Mann fostered and leaned on until Weinstein\u2019s MeToo downfall in 2017, when news reports about allegations against him propelled a global campaign against sexual assault and sexual harassment.<\/p>\n
He has said he behaved \u201cwrongly\u201d but never assaulted anyone.<\/p>\n
He was convicted in 2020 of raping Mann, got the conviction overturned, then saw a jury deadlock on it at a retrial last year.<\/p>\n
In summations on Tuesday, Mr Agnifilo suggested that parts of Mann\u2019s account were ill-supported and implausible, and he underscored the warm email exchanges and continued get-togethers she had with Weinstein before and after the alleged rape.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout the four years, she is going to Harvey Weinstein for things that she needs, and Harvey Weinstein is doing the best that he can,\u201d by supporting her acting ambitions and giving her emotional support, Mr Agnifilo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are emotionally close. She relies on him. He is a very important person in her life, and she lets him know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Weinstein\u2019s lawyer, it amounted to \u201ca sweet, loving, supportive relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
But to Ms Blumberg, \u201cthis was a woman who got manipulated by that man\u201d.<\/p>\n
While Ms Mann acknowledged she loved \u201ca part\u201d of Weinstein, she gave evidence that she begged him not to do anything sexual that day in the Manhattan hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo means no \u2013 to everyone except Harvey Weinstein,\u201d Ms Blumberg said, adding: \u201cJessica Mann deserves closure and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever the outcome of the trial, the former movie producer and studio boss still will stand convicted of other sex crimes in New York and California, though he is appealing against those convictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harvey Weinstein\u2019s defence has urged jurors to put an end to a MeToo-era rape case that has gone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-482322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}