Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Thursday that his office will not pursue a fourth trial against Harvey Weinstein on a charge of raping hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013. The decision came after Mann informed the court she could “no longer endure going through this,” closing a case that had produced one overturned conviction and two hung juries since 2020. Weinstein, 74, remains incarcerated on separate sexual felony convictions in New York and California.

Prosecutors stated they “believe Ms. Mann’s account and her credibility as a witness” but that a victim-centred approach required respecting her wish not to testify again. In a letter read in court, Mann said the eight-year legal process had “put me through more harm than good” and left her “fragmented, silenced, defamed and traumatised.” Weinstein’s defence lawyer, Jacob Kaplan, argued outside court that “these charges should never have been brought to begin with” and maintained that all encounters were consensual. Weinstein, who did not testify at any of the trials, has consistently denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

The dismissal does not affect Weinstein’s other convictions. In New York, he was found guilty in a 2025 retrial of sexually assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley; prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison term at a sentencing scheduled for September. In California, he is serving a 16-year sentence for raping an Italian actor, a verdict he is appealing. The dropped charge, a low-level felony carrying a maximum of four years, had become largely symbolic given the time Weinstein has already served and the longer sentences he faces.

Weinstein’s downfall began in 2017 when investigations revealed decades of sexual misconduct allegations, catalysing the global #MeToo movement. More than 80 women publicly accused him. The Mann case was among the first to reach trial, resulting in a landmark 2020 conviction that was later overturned by New York’s highest court because the trial judge had allowed testimony from women whose allegations were not part of the charges. Two retrials, in 2025 and 2026, ended with deadlocked juries. Viewed from European legal circles, the repeated hung juries and the accuser’s exhaustion highlight the difficulties of prosecuting historical sexual assault cases; in France, a collective of women this week called for the abolition of the statute of limitations on rape, citing the Weinstein case as emblematic of the barriers survivors face. The New York case is now closed, but Weinstein’s legal battles continue through appeals and the upcoming sentencing.