Two of the jurors who voted to convict Harvey Weinstein declare they have been bullied into doing so by others on the jury and remorse their choice, in line with the disgraced film mogul’s legal professionals.
The pair of jurors, in sworn affidavits included in a Tuesday courtroom submitting from Weinstein’s attorneys, allege they have been screamed at and threatened by their friends throughout the chaotic deliberations that resulted in Weinstein convicted on considered one of three fees in June.
“I remorse the decision,” the unidentified juror stated within the affidavit. “With out the intimidation from different jurors, I consider that the jury would have held on the Miriam Haley cost.”
Weinstein, 73, was convicted of felony intercourse act for assaulting TV and movie manufacturing assistant and producer Miriam Haley in 2006.
He was acquitted on a second felony cost involving Polish psychotherapist and former mannequin Kaja Sokola. A mistrial was declared on probably the most extreme rape cost of former actress Jessica Mann.
“If I might have voted by secret poll, I might have returned a not responsible verdict on all three fees,” one juror’s affidavit reads, Bloomberg reported.
The juror claimed fellow panel members screamed: “Now we have to eliminate you.”
When the foreperson requested for civility, one other juror received in his face, pointed a finger at him and threatened, “You don’t know me. I’ll catch you outdoors,” in line with the affidavit.
“Once I arrived house, I known as two relations and instructed them to come back search for me in the event that they didn’t hear from me, since one thing was not proper about this jury deliberation course of,” one of many juror affidavits states.
“I used to be so afraid of the repercussions and feared for my bodily security that I in the end voted with the bulk.”
One of many juror affidavits alleged that one panel member accused a fellow juror of accepting bribes from Weinstein.
That allegation “shifted deliberations from a fair 6-6 cut up to a sudden unanimous verdict,” the affidavit states.
On the trial in June, the jury deliberations have been marked by “playground drama” infighting that spiraled uncontrolled — with the foreman of the jury telling the courtroom that he was bullied and that one other juror had threatened him.
“Generally jury deliberations turn into heated. I perceive this explicit deliberation was extra heated than some others. That’s unlucky,” Manhattan Supreme Court docket Justice Curtis Farber stated earlier than discovering a mistrial on the rape cost.
Two jurors disputed the foreman’s accounts after the trial, the Related Press reported.
Juror No. 10 dished to The Put up concerning the foreman of the unruly jury.
“Every little thing he did was sneaky,” Chantan Holmes-Clayborn stated outdoors Manhattan Supreme Court docket after the trial ended.
Weinstein was convicted of sexual assault at his second New York trial in June after an earlier verdict was overturned on enchantment. He has but to be sentenced for the June conviction.
A mistrial was declared on the rape cost that the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace has stated it’s able to retry.
Weinstein’s legal professionals are in search of to overturn his conviction for first-degree felony intercourse act and are additionally interesting a separate case in California.
With Put up wires
