Jury convicts Harvey Weinstein of top charge in split verdict at #MeToo sex crimes retrial

NEW YORK (AP) — Former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was convicted Wednesday of one of the top charges in his sex crimes retrial but acquitted of another, and jurors were as yet unable to reach a verdict on a third charge.

The split verdict meted out a measure of vindication to his accusers and prosecutors — but also to Weinstein — in the landmark case.

The partial verdict came after an extraordinary day in which the jury foreperson indicated he felt bullied and Weinstein himself urged the judge to halt the trial, declaring: “It’s just not fair.”

“My life is on the line, and you know what? It’s not fair,” the former Hollywood heavy-hitter declared after making an unusual request to address the court. “It’s time, it’s time, it’s time, it’s time to say this trial is over.”

Weinstein’s initial conviction five years ago seemed to cement the downfall of one of Hollywood’s most powerful men in a pivotal moment for the #MeToo movement. But that conviction was overturned last year, and the case was sent back for retrial in the same Manhattan courthouse.

This time, a majority-female jury convicted the former studio boss of forcibly subjecting Miriam Haley, a producer and production assistant, to a criminal sex act in 2006. Jurors acquitted Weinstein of another criminal sex act charge, this one related to former model Kaja Sokola's allegations of forcible oral sex in 2006.

Haley, who had qualms about testifying again, said outside court Wednesday it had been “exhausting and at times dehumanizing.”

“But today’s verdict gives me hope,” she added.

Jurors were to continue deliberating Thursday on a rape charge involving hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann. Under New York law, the third-degree rape charge carries a lesser penalty than the first-degree criminal sex act offense.

But the judge told the foreperson he won't have to go in the jury room if he doesn't want to, adding more uncertainty to the proceedings.

Weinstein, 73, denies sexually assaulting or raping anyone.

Jury-room strains started leaking into public view Friday, when a juror asked to be excused because he felt another was being treated unfairly. Then Monday, the foreperson complained that other jurors were pushing people to change their minds and talking about information beyond the charges.

The man raised similar concerns again Wednesday. In a closed-door discussion with prosecutors, defense lawyers and the judge, the foreperson said another juror was yelling at him for sticking to his opinion and at one point vowed, “You going to see me outside.”

“I feel afraid inside there,” the foreperson told the judge and attorneys, according to a transcript.

Weinstein’s lawyers asked unsuccessfully for a mistrial each time the concerned jurors came forward.

The trial once again turned a legal lens — and, to some extent the public eye — on the man whose reputed history of brutishness toward women propelled the #MeToo era that began in 2017.

Weinstein’s companies produced or distributed a string of best Oscar winners for decades. He personally stood on the Oscars stage as a producer of 1999 best picture winner “Shakespeare in Love.” He also became a prominent Democratic donor.

When an Italian model told police in 2015 that Weinstein had abruptly groped her in his New York office, no charges resulted.

Then, two years later, The New York Times and The New Yorker detailed decades of sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations against Weinstein.

Those disclosures made #MeToo a global rallying cry for sexual misconduct awareness and accountability.

Weinstein ultimately was convicted of sex crimes and sentenced to prison in New York and California.

His California appeal is ongoing. But New York’s highest court awarded Weinstein a new trial, saying the former trial judge had allowed prejudicial testimony.

The retrial was expanded with new charges related to Sokola, a Polish psychotherapist who said Weinstein forced oral sex on her when she was a 19-year-old model.

Sokola called Wednesday's partial verdict “a big win for everyone” and the “closing of a chapter that caused me a lot of pain throughout my life.”

In one of the tensest moments of testimony, she was confronted with a passage from her private journal. At other flashpoints, Mann pointed indignantly at Weinstein as she walked past him in court, and Haley cursed at him from the witness stand.

Weinstein’s accusers said he exploited his Tinseltown influence to dangle career help, get them alone and then trap and force them into sexual encounters.

In a complexity they spent days explaining, the women stayed in contact with Weinstein, saw him again, and at times accepted or requested invitations or favors, according to testimony and documents. Mann said she had a consensual relationship with Weinstein that began before and continued after he allegedly raped her.

The accusers said they were trying to reckon with what had happened, attempting to suppress the assaults for their careers’ sake or trying to keep the peace with an influential, well-connected and irascible man.

Weinstein chose not to testify. His attorneys portrayed his accusers as Hollywood wannabes and hangers-on who willingly hooked up with him to court opportunity, then recast the encounters as crimes years later to collect settlement funds and #MeToo approbation.

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be identified. Haley, Mann and Sokola did so.

Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan for his retrial, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein jokes with press photographers in Manhattan criminal court as the jury in his retrial deliberates, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in New York. Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)

Harvey Weinstein jokes with press photographers in Manhattan criminal court as the jury in his retrial deliberates, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in New York. Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)

Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan for his retrial, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan for his retrial, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Pool Photo via AP)

The jury in the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct case listens to a read back of testimony by a key witness, Monday, June 9, 2025, at Manhattan criminal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Harvey Weinstein appears at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Pool Photo via AP)

HONG KONG (AP) — Fireworks are typically a celebratory centerpiece of Hong Kong's New Year celebrations. Not this year.

The territory will ring in 2026 without spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November that killed at least 161 people.

The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show Wednesday night featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district that also is home to the famous nightlife hub Lan Kwai Fong. The facades of eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.

Fireworks have long been part of the city’s celebrations for the New Year, Lunar New Year and National Day. The pyrotechnic displays against Hong Kong’s world-famous skyline of skyscrapers typically draw hundreds of thousands of people including many tourists to both sides of the promenade.

Rosanna Law, the territory's secretary for culture, sports and tourism, acknowledged Tuesday that having no fireworks would affect some hotel and restaurant businesses.

The financial hub’s worst blaze since 1948 broke out at Wang Fuk Court, in the northern suburban district of Tai Po, in late November. The apartment complex was undergoing a monthslong renovation project with buildings covered by bamboo scaffolding and green netting.

Authorities have pointed to the substandard netting and foam boards installed on windows as contributing factors in the fire’s rapid spread. Thousands of affected residents have moved to transitional homes, hotels and youth hostels, struggling to recover from the loss of lives and homes that took them years to buy. The casualties pained many residents across the city.

Past tragedies in Hong Kong have forced similar cancellations of fireworks. They include the 2013 National Day festivities following a vessel collision that killed 39 people on Oct. 1, 2012, and the 2018 Lunar New Year celebration after a bus crash that left 19 dead. During the 2019 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple displays also were scrapped.

The origin of fireworks is believed to date to China in the second century B.C., when someone discovered bamboo stalks exploded with loud bangs when thrown into fire, creating the first natural “firecrackers,” according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a U.S. trade group.

The Guinness World Records organization says the first accurately documented firework, the Chinese firecracker, was created by Li Tian, a monk from China’s Tang dynasty dating to around 618 to 907 C.E. Li discovered that putting gunpowder in enclosed hollow bamboo stems created loud explosions and bound crackers together to create the traditional New Year firecrackers to drive out evil spirits, Guinness said.

People gather at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

People attend the New Year countdown event to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

People take selfies at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

People pose for photographs at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

FILE - Fireworks explode over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the start of 2025 at Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)