By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County prosecutors announced Tuesday they will not retry disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein on a series of sex-related charges on which jurors were unable to reach a verdict last year.
Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench granted the defense’s motion to dismiss the remaining charges against Weinstein — who was sentenced in February to 16 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a model-actress in a Los Angeles hotel room — after Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson said the prosecution was unable to proceed with the case.
Thompson called it a “difficult decision,” saying that prosecutors had wanted to seek justice for all of the alleged victims.
One of Weinstein’s attorneys, Jacqueline Sparagna, said her client maintains his innocence — as he had during his sentencing last month. She said outside court that he is looking forward to his appeal.
Jurors convicted the 70-year-old defendant in December of charges involving a woman identified only as Jane Doe No. 1, but deadlocked on a charge of sexual battery by restraint involving an alleged attack in February 2013 against Jane Doe No. 2 and one count each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation involving an alleged attack in 2005 on Jane Doe No. 4 — the latter of whom has been publicly identified by her attorney as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Jane Doe No. 2, who subsequently identified herself as Lauren Young, told the judge Tuesday that she was “very disappointed” with the prosecution’s decision.
“As you know, 10 members of the jury voted to convict the defendant on that charge, and two did not,” Young said. “I really wanted the prosecutor to retry the case, and I asked him to do that because for 10 years I have done everything possible to seek justice for what the defendant did to me. … I believed in our system of justice and I hoped that I would obtain justice if I testified truthfully,…
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