A Los Angeles rape trial that could determine the long-term fate of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein appears to have reached an impasse in the jury room after five days of sequestered discussions.
The jury of eight men and four women went home on Friday afternoon and will return to resume deliberations on Monday morning.
They must decide on two counts of rape and five other sexual assault counts against the 70-year-old disgraced movie magnate.
They received the case at the end of closing arguments on December 2 and have since deliberated for a total of about 24 hours in their closed-door sessions.
Weinstein still has more than 20 years left on his sentence in New York after a rape and sexual assault conviction there that is under appeal.
Legal analysts have speculated that a not guilty result in LA could set the stage for a potential appeal in New York which is already underway.
In California, he could get 60 years to life in prison if he’s convicted on all counts involving all four women he’s charged with assaulting.
All four testified during the trial, along with four other accusers who testified for prosecutors attempting to show a propensity for such acts by Weinstein.
Prosecutors urged jurors to end the “reign of terror” of a man they called a “degenerate rapist”.
Weinstein’s lawyers argued that two of the women’s accusations are entirely fabricated and two others reframed consensual sexual encounters as assault years later, after the #MeToo movement made Weinstein a target.
He has pleaded not guilty and denied engaging in any non-consensual sex.
-with AAP
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