Harvey Weinstein Considers Guilty Plea, but Maintains He ‘Never Assaulted Anyone’

Harvey Weinstein‘s attorney announced on Thursday the disgraced movie mogul is considering a guilty plea, even as he maintains he “never assaulted anyone.”

Per the Associated Press, Weinstein addressed Judge Curtis Farber in New York after the judge denied his attempt to overturn his previous conviction of forcibly performing oral sex on a woman in 2006. That conviction carries a potential 25-year prison sentence.

“I am disappointed in today’s decision,” Weinstein told Judge Farber. “You witnessed the trial and saw how forces beyond my control stripped me of my most basic right to be judged fairly.”

“I know I was unfaithful, I know I acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone,” the Oscar-winning movie producer insisted.

In June, a seven-woman, five-man jury in New York found Weinstein guilty of a first-degree criminal sex act against former “Project Runway” assistant Miriam Haley. The same jury found him not guilty of the same charge against former model Kaja Sokola. The jury, however, could not reach a verdict on the third count of rape against actress Jessica Mann.

Afterward, prosecutors announced their intention to retry Weinstein on the latter charge. Judge Farber subsequently set a March 3 start date for that retrial, which would be the third rape trial in New York with Weinstein at the center. In Los Angeles, he has already been found guilty of rape and sexual assault and was sentenced in 2023 to 16 additional years in prison. He is currently appealing that conviction.

The rape charge related to Mann’s allegation carries with it a prison sentence of up to four years.

In the wake of the split verdict last June, Weinstein’s lawyers have argued that the jury’s decisions were influenced by intense infighting and threats of violence among the jurors. The producer’s team filed a motion to vacate the conviction related to his alleged assault of Haley, which included sworn statements from two jurors who claimed they were intimidated into naming Weinstein guilty by their fellow jurors.

Both the case’s prosecutors and Farber have rejected Weinstein’s team’s claims that the jury infighting substantially impacted the trial’s outcome. Following Weinstein’s remarks on Thursday, the judge informed him, “I promised you that you’ll have a fair trial. And a fair trial I believe you had.”

In response to Farber’s rejection, Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala told the judge his client wanted to “pursue plea negotiations.” After a private discussion with Aidala and other lawyers involved in the case, Farber returned to his bench and noted that Weinstein wanted time to consider his plea options.

On Thursday, Weinstein equated his time spent on Rikers Island to a “march to my death” and said he is terrified that he will die “unseen and unheard.”

The post Harvey Weinstein Considers Guilty Plea, but Maintains He ‘Never Assaulted Anyone’ appeared first on TheWrap.