Jurors set to hear opening statements in Harvey Weinstein's rape retrial in New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Opening statements are set for Tuesday in Harvey Weinstein ’s New York rape retrial, offering a new jury its first look at a bellwether #MeToo case that remains unresolved nearly eight years after the former movie tycoon's arrest.

Since Weinstein became a major target of the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct nearly a decade ago, he has been convicted of some sexual assault charges and acquitted of others in trials on two U.S. coasts. But the rape charge involving a 2013 encounter in a Manhattan hotel has lingered, due to an overturned conviction followed by a jury deadlock.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies ever having nonconsensual sex. He said in court in this winter that he had been unfaithful to his then-wife and “acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.”

The jury — seven men and five women — was selected over several days last week. Weinstein's last New York jury was majority-female, but his first was mostly male.

The current jurors were questioned about, among other things, their familiarity with Weinstein and whether they could be fair and impartial regardless of what they might have heard.

Now a 73-year-old prison inmate, Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. An Academy Award-winning producer and a studio boss, he helped bring such acclaimed films as “Pulp Fiction,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “Gangs of New York” to movie houses and the popular reality series “Project Runway” to TV. He also was a prominent Democratic donor.

His career collapsed in 2017, when decades of Hollywood whispers about his behavior toward women became public accusations in news and social media. Criminal charges followed in New York and Los Angeles.

His accuser in this trial, Jessica Mann, was a hairstylist hoping to break into big-time acting when she met Weinstein at a Los Angeles-area party in late 2012 or early 2013.

She has testified that she was looking for a professional connection but ended up, ambivalently, in a consensual relationship with the then-married Weinstein.

During a New York trip with a friend in March 2013, she arranged a breakfast for both of them with Weinstein, she said. According to Mann's prior testimony, Weinstein ultimately 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 succumbed because she “just wanted to get out.”

Weinstein’s former lawyers emphasized that Mann kept seeing him, accepting invitations, asking him for career help and sending warm messages to him. He has switched legal teams for this retrial, and it remains to be seen how their approach may differ.

The trial is expected to take up to four weeks.

Harvey Weinstein's attorney Jacob Kaplan leaves during a mid-day break in criminal court, in New York, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg, center, and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Candace White, right, arrive for the first day of Harvey Weinstein's third trial, in criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) ADDITION: adding Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Candace White

Harvey Weinstein appears in criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein appears in criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein appears in criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Pool)

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg, center, arrives for the first day of Harvey Weinstein's third trial, in criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Harvey Weinstein's attorney Marc Agnifilo arrives in criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in New York. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)

Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in New York. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)

Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in New York. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)

Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court on Friday, April 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court on Friday, April 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, Pool)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota prosecutor on Monday announced charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in the nonfatal shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minnesota.

The officer, Christian Castro, is charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

“Mr. Castro is an ICE agent, but his federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota,” Moriarty said, adding that Sosa-Celis never posed a threat and that her office received no cooperation from the federal government. “There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal officers who commit crimes in this state or any other.”

Castro shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after he and another officer chased a different man to the apartment duplex where the man and Sosa-Celis lived, Moriarty said, noting that both Sosa-Celis and the other man were legally in the U.S.

Federal authorities initially accused Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during the incident. But a federal judge later dismissed the charges and federal officials opened an investigation into whether two immigration officers lied about what happened.

Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department officials didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment. DHS previously said that lying under oath is a “serious federal offense” and that making false statements could result in an officer being fired or prosecuted.

The administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign. DHS, which oversees ICE, called Operation Metro Surge its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and deemed it a success.

But tensions mounted during the weekslong campaign and the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers provoked mass unrest and questions about officers’ conduct.

Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration have clashed over which has the authority to investigate and prosecute officers for conduct while on duty. The Trump administration has suggested that Minnesota officials don’t have jurisdiction.

State officials, though, have said they don’t trust the federal government to investigate itself or hold officers accountable.

“There’s no modern precedent for what happened to the people here in Minnesota,” Moriarty said Monday. “So it requires a lot of us to dig in and look at ways to hold people accountable that we probably never thought we would be looking at in our careers.”

Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, has been conducting investigations into multiple incidents during the crackdown. Moriarty's office last month charged Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. with two counts of second-degree assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in a car on a highway, but he is still at large. She said Monday that her office has made “substantial progress” in apprehending him.

The county continues to investigate Good's and Pretti’s killings and sued the administration in March over access to evidence in the two cases and the one involving Sosa-Celis. Although Moriarty hasn't charged anyone in either killing, she has said she's confident her office's investigations will bring transparency, even if not criminal prosecution.

Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

FILE - Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty explains her progressive approach to prosecutions, June 19, 2024, at her office in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave, File)