Harvey Weinstein will not be re-tried in Los Angeles for the rape and sexual assault charges jurors failed to reach a verdict on, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench granted a request by the disgraced movie producer’s attorneys to dismiss those charges, which stemmed from claims made by two of the accusers in the trial. Weinstein will soon return to New York.
Last month, Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison after Los Angeles jurors found him guilty of a rape charge and two counts of sexual assault involving an Italian model who claims the former filmmaker attacked her in 2013.
The charges involving that accuser, identified during the trial as Jane Doe 1, were the only ones Weinstein was convicted of in Los Angeles. Weinstein, who didn’t testify, was also acquitted of charges involving another woman.
The Los Angeles sentence followed a 23-year penalty given to Weinstein in New York in 2020 following his conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. New York’s Court of Appeals agreed in August to consider an appeal by Weinstein.
A day after the L.A. sentencing came down, Evgeniya Chernyshova identified herself as Jane Doe 1 to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Before that night I was a very happy and confident woman,” she said at the sentencing hearing. “I valued myself and the relationship I had with God. I was excited about my future. Everything changed after the defendant brutally assaulted me. There is no prison sentence long enough to undo the damage.”
The Flushing-born Weinstein, 70, co-founded with his brother the Miramax production studio behind Oscar-winning films such as “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.” He became a focal point of the #MeToo movement in 2017 after dozens of women accused him of sexual misconduct.