Recently unsealed court documents reveal that two jurors deliberating on the Harvey Weinstein trial felt threatened by other jurors to deliver a guilty verdict.
Weinstein is now trying to use this development to have his conviction thrown out, alleging that "substantial misconduct and gross unqualification of jurors" robbed him of a fair trial.
In June, a New York jury found Weinstein guilty of one count of criminal sexual assault against former Project Runway assistant Miriam Haley. He was acquitted of assaulting former model Kaja Sokola, and a rape charge against him was dropped after a mistrial was declared due to the jury foreperson claiming they were being threatened by other jurors.
In the recently released court documents, one juror — whose number is redacted — claims they overheard other jurors saying they needed to "set an example" with their verdict, and further claimed they were "aggressively screamed at" for wanting to return a not-guilty verdict on all three charges.
"During this interaction, Juror Number [redacted] stood up, spoke in an extremely loud volume and said to me, 'You are deliberately making this a hung jury.' I noticed that his hands were shaking as he screamed very loudly at me."
The same juror also recalls a fellow juror insisting that there was "something mentally wrong with you," and another juror expressing her desire to have them removed from the panel, saying, "We have to get rid of you."
The juror said they lived near one of the other jurors who was angry with them and claimed they felt "physically threatened by her" and another juror.
They said the fear of retaliation from other jurors ultimately forced them to go along with the guilty verdict.
"I was so afraid of the repercussions and feared for my physical safety that I ultimately voted with the majority," the juror said, despite having "really wanted to vote not guilty."
The juror said that they "regret the verdict."
During the trial, one of the jurors had asked to address the court twice during deliberations because he said he had heard other jurors discussing another member of the panel in the elevators. The juror wanted to be excused from the jury, saying they did not feel the process was "fair."
The jury foreperson also reportedly told the judge that other jurors were considering parts of Weinstein's past not directly related to the case and not entered as evidence while considering their verdicts, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's lawyer, called for a mistrial more than a dozen times during the trial but was denied each time. In the most recent filing, Aidala alleges that the court “failed to conduct a sufficient inquiry when such misconduct was brought to its attention.”
In an affidavit filed on August 4, a juror said that fellow jurors "who believed Mr Weinstein was not guilty were aggressively challenged and forced to explain themselves, while pro-guilty views were accepted without question.”
The juror noted that another juror threatened them, reportedly saying, “I check people who talk to me like that. You don’t know me. I’ll catch you outside."
During the trial, Judge Curtis Farber questioned the jurors in court and in chambers about what had been reported to him by the concerned jurors, but found that no misconduct had occurred.
Prosecutors are planning to retry Weinstein on the rape charge relating to actress Jessica Mann. Weinstein has already filed to have that verdict tossed out, and he is still facing sentencing on the criminal sexual assault charge. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.
Aidala said he plans to request a hearing regarding the alleged jury misconduct and “to assess the adequacy of the Court’s response during trial.”
