Overview
- Opening statements in Manhattan on Tuesday put a seven-man, five-woman jury on a single third-degree rape charge tied to Jessica Mann’s 2013 stay at a Midtown DoubleTree hotel.
- Prosecutor Candace White said Weinstein used power like a weapon and preyed on a fragile young woman, telling jurors the case is about power, control, and manipulation.
- Defense lawyer Jacob Kaplan said the pair had a long, consensual relationship and called the case about consent and choice, pointing to warm emails as proof of mutual affection.
- New York’s top court overturned parts of Weinstein’s 2020 convictions in 2024 for allowing unrelated accuser testimony, and a 2025 retrial yielded a conviction for Miriam Haley, an acquittal for Kaja Sokola, and a mistrial on Mann’s charge.
- Weinstein remains in custody on a separate 16-year California sentence, appeared in court in a wheelchair, and this trial is expected to run about a month with a maximum four-year penalty at stake.