NEW YORK – New York prosecutors have dropped a rape charge against Harvey Weinstein instead of trying it a fourth time. His accuser supported Thursday's decision, which puts an end to one piece of a landmark #MeToo-era prosecution.
It doesn't clear the former Hollywood honcho's criminal record. The 74-year-old has been convicted of other sex crimes in two states and is still behind bars while he appeals those verdicts.
Recommended Videos
Here’s what you need to know about the case:
Charge dropped when accuser said she couldn't endure another trial
Jessica Mann, the hairstylist and actor who accused Weinstein of raping her in a New York hotel room in 2013, told the court in a letter that she “could no longer endure going through this.”
She had given extensive, emotional testimony at three trials. One produced a conviction that later got overturned for reasons unrelated to her testimony. Then two retrials ended in hung juries.
Mann, 40, said in her letter that she “gave my all” in the case, it “put me through more harm than good” and she wanted to close this chapter of her life.
Prosecutors said they believed Mann and were confident in the case, but they would drop it because of her wishes and Weinstein's other convictions.
Weinstein's lawyers said the charge should never have been brought in the first place.
He denies the allegation, and his lawyers said the encounter was part of a consensual, yearslong relationship. Mann testified that in the early months of that relationship, Weinstein raped her after cornering her in a Manhattan hotel room, grabbing her arms and ignoring her repeated pleas not to have sex.
Dismissal doesn't affect Weinstein's convictions
Mann's allegation was one of a number of criminal charges that evolved from a 2017 deluge of sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein, an Oscar-winning producer who had huge sway in Hollywood. The accusations propelled the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Weinstein was convicted of some charges and acquitted of others at trials in New York and California. The dismissal of the Mann-related case doesn't affect his convictions, which involved other women.
Weinstein is facing sentencing in other case
Weinstein, who has said he “never assaulted anyone,” is challenging his convictions. He was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting an Italian actor-model in Los Angeles and sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, a production assistant and producer, in New York.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they choose to make their names public, as Mann and Haley have done.
Weinstein, 74, is facing sentencing in September on the conviction tied to Haley — a verdict reached in at a 2025 retrial after an appeals court reversed an earlier conviction. Haley testified that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her after inviting her to stop by his Manhattan apartment before a flight in July 2006.
Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year sentence for that conviction. Weinstein's lawyers say they haven't yet decided what sentence they will seek.
After whatever punishment Weinstein gets in New York, he faces a 16-year sentence in California.