Harvey Weinstein won't testify at sex crimes retrial

Harvey Weinstein won't testify at his New York sex crimes retrial.

That means jurors soon will get to decide the fate of the former movie studio boss who propelled the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct.

The trial will move on to closing arguments on Tuesday without testimony from Weinstein, his lawyer Arthur Aidala said on Sunday night.

It's unclear whether jury deliberations would begin Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.

It was a fraught decision for Weinstein, who has never answered questions in open court about any of the accusations women have made.

He didn't testify at previous trials in New York and California and was convicted in both.

He denies the allegations, and his lawyer has said that Weinstein carefully considered whether to take the stand this time.

While his California appeal winds on, Weinstein won a new trial in his New York rape and sexual assault case when the state's highest court overturned his 2020 conviction.

He's charged in New York with raping Jessica Mann in 2013 and forcing oral sex on Miriam Haley and Kaja Sokola, separately, in 2006.

Mann was an actor and hairstylist, Haley a production assistant and producer, and Sokola a model who aspired to an acting career.

All three women have testified at the retrial, giving emotional and graphic accounts of what they say they endured from a powerbroker who suggested he'd help them achieve their show-business dreams, but then manoeuvred them into private settings and preyed on them.

His lawyers have argued that anything that happened between him and his accusers was consensual.

In the US defendants in criminal cases aren't obligated to testify and many decide not to, for various reasons. Among them: the prospect of being questioned by prosecutors.

Aidala said outside court on Thursday that Weinstein thought a lot of holes had been poked in the accusers' accounts but that he also was pondering whether jurors would feel they needed to hear from him.