Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assault in New York, after a sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year.
A panel of seven female and five male jurors deliberated for five days in the six-week trial before unanimously voting to convict the disgraced film mogul of one of three counts.
The jury found him not guilty of an additional sexual assault charge, and have yet to return a verdict on a charge of rape.
The conviction is in addition to a 16-year sentence that Weinstein has yet to serve after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles.
The trial was based on the testimony of three women – former television production assistant Miriam Haley, actress Jessica Mann, and model Kaja Sokola. All three accused Weinstein of using his power in the entertainment industry to sexually abuse them.
On Wednesday, the jury found Weinstein guilty of assaulting Ms Haley, but found him not guilty of assaulting Ms Sokola. They have yet to return a verdict on Ms Mann, and plan to resume deliberations on the rape count on Thursday.
An appeals court overturned Weinstein’s previous conviction for sex crimes in New York last April, finding the 73-year-old did not receive a fair trial in 2020 because a judge allowed testimony from women who made allegations against him beyond the charges at hand.
Weinstein was then indicted on new sexual assault charges in the state in September.
In a statement, Weinstein’s spokesperson said the trial was “fair until we got to the jury deliberations”.
“More than one juror had complained that other jurors had preconceived notions and are using their beliefs of Harvey’s life as evidence of guilt,” the spokesperson said. “We believe there are serious appellate issues and they will be explored.”
Jury deliberations have been plagued with tensions over the past week. On Monday, the foreperson accused other jurors of “attacking” other people and trying to change their minds. He said jurors were considering Weinstein’s past and other allegations outside the realm of the case in making their decisions.
The judge said he would give the jury an instruction about only considering the allegations in the case.
