Mann was a 27-year-old who had recently struggled financially and lived in her car when she met Weinstein in early 2013 at a Los Angeles-area party, according to her prior testimony described by prosecutors and the defense. In the trial’s framing, jurors are asked to focus on what happened in a Manhattan hotel room during a trip in March 2013, while also hearing material about their relationship before and after that day.
At Tuesday’s opening statements, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Candace White told jurors that “This case will come down to power, to control and to manipulation,” and the remarks were delivered as jury consideration began in the bellwether #MeToo case. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, watched from the audience, as the trial moved into its evidentiary phase nearly eight years after Weinstein’s arrest.
Weinstein’s defense rejected that framing. Attorney Jacob Kaplan countered that the case “is about consent, about choice and about regret,” echoing Weinstein’s broader argument that his accuser had turned what he described as a consensual relationship into criminal conduct.
The retrial is part of a longer procedural arc for Weinstein, whose criminal cases unfolded on two coasts after the #MeToo movement elevated allegations about his behavior. Prosecutors said in opening statements that Weinstein had been convicted of some sexual-assault-related charges and acquitted of others in earlier trials, with some charges later dismissed, but that the Manhattan rape charge tied to a 2013 hotel-room encounter had persisted after an overturned conviction and a jury deadlock.
In court Tuesday, prosecutors and the judge also set the shape of what jurors will hear this time. The case has been pared down to the single question of what happened between Weinstein and Jessica Mann in the hotel room, while jurors will also learn about their relationship before and after the alleged incident. The trial team on both sides has shifted as well: Weinstein switched legal teams, and the defense signaled that it would rein in some questions about a claims fund for women who said Weinstein sexually mistreated them.
Prosecutors also described plans that would expand witness testimony beyond what jurors have heard in past proceedings. They asked the judge to allow at least one new witness: a close friend of Mann from the time of the alleged rape. Prosecutors indicated that if Weinstein himself testifies—something he did not do at prior trials—they may also seek to call a court officer who disclosed a remark Weinstein made in 2020; the defense objected to both potential witnesses.
Judge Curtis Farber, in turn, limited certain topics tied to event logistics. During opening statements, jurors were told about “friends of Harvey” that Weinstein’s assistants maintained for event guest lists, and Farber limited questioning about the list during the trial, including clarification that Mann and another expected witness had been on the roster. Unlike at last year’s trial, the jury panel was not informed that the roster was all women.
The dispute at the center of the trial traces back to Mann’s prior description of the encounter. She testified that she was looking for a professional connection but ended up in a consensual relationship with Weinstein, then a married man. During a New York trip with a friend in March 2013, she arranged a breakfast for pals and Weinstein, and she previously testified that Weinstein trapped her in a hotel room, ignored her protestation that “I don’t want to do this,” demanded she undress and grabbed her arms, and she said she “just wanted to get out.”
In opening statements, White told jurors Weinstein “was used to getting his way” professionally and personally, adding that “Behind closed doors, power meant him taking what he wanted from the victim in this case.” White described that Weinstein shook his head slightly at one point as she claimed that he had “silenced” Mann by warning her that crossing him could be professional “quicksand,” and prosecutors said Mann testified that for years she did not tell anyone about the alleged rape.
Weinstein’s defense disputed the interpretation of Mann’s actions before and after the alleged incident. In the aftermath, White said Mann kept seeing Weinstein—accepting invitations, asking him for career help, and sending warm messages. Kaplan, meanwhile, told jurors the case “isn’t a ‘he said, she said’ — it will be her word against her own word,” and urged jurors to consider what Mann was getting from Weinstein, saying, “Ask yourself: What is Jessica Mann getting from Harvey Weinstein?”
Weinstein pleaded not guilty. The AP reported that he said in January that he had been unfaithful to his then-wife and “acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.” Now 73 and serving time in prison, Weinstein was once an influential figure in Hollywood, including an Academy Award-winning producer and studio boss who helped bring films such as “Pulp Fiction,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “Gangs of New York” to theaters and produced television including “Project Runway,” before his career collapsed in 2017 amid public accusations that led to criminal charges in New York and Los Angeles.
The AP also said it does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.