Jurors in the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct trial did not debate the #MeToo movement, one of the jurors told CBS This Morning on Friday, saying that discussing “outside factors” would have been an “adulteration” of the judicial process.
“I have no appetite or aspirations to be both the face of the jury or the larger movement,” said the juror, identified only as Drew, adding that the jury’s only focus was “this case, these people, this is our decision.”
“There is no message,” he said. “We were there to do a job, and to make a decision based on the information that was presented to us, and we have absolutely no stance or voice or opinion as to any type of larger movement.”
Watch the first segment of the interview above, and the second half below.
In an interview with Gayle King, the juror said about larger “messages” of the trial, “That’s not the job and that’s not what we were asked to do. It would be an adulteration of the process to take outside factors and have that weigh on our decision-making process and eventual findings.”
The juror said he “took no joy in any aspect” of the process. “This is a serious matter for serious crimes,” he said.
On Monday, the jury returned convictions on two counts against Miramax co-founder Weinstein, including a first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape, charges resulting from the testimony of the trial’s primary accusers Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann.
But Weinstein was acquitted on two counts of predatory sexual assault — both involving actress Annabella Sciorra’s testimony of being raped by the former producer during the winter of 1993-94.
The juror confirmed what had been speculated about the reason for the jury’s guilty verdict on third-degree rape but not first-degree rape: Physical force was not used by Weinstein against Mann. As for the victims’ much-discussed continued contact with Weinstein, Drew said “there was huge discourse” on such subjects but that the matter did not play a role in the verdicts. “Husbands can rape their wives,” he said.
As for Sciorra’s testimony, Drew said it was “compelling in itself,” but that proving charges carries a “very high burden.” He mentioned that Sciorra’s accusations stem from an alleged incident from 27 years ago.
The juror said he wanted Weinstein to take the stand (the ex-mogul did not), but that Weinstein’s decision did not influence the jury’s decision-making. Drew declined to speculate on a possible sentence except to note that given Weinstein’s age and health, “the general population at Rikers sounds like a pretty dangerous place.”
Drew is the second juror to grant a TV interview this week: A woman identified only as Juror #2 told Inside Edition that some members of the jury were convinced by Sciorra’s testimony.
“I wouldn’t say [Sciorra’s testimony] wasn’t convincing,” she said. “It was very much so convincing to a lot of the jurors. I feel like the way things went for her, it was wrong. I feel like hopefully with the verdict we gave, she feels that she has some type of closure.”
Drew, one of seven men on the 12-person jury, told King that “every day was very emotional” during the trial, and characterized the deliberations as civil. Asked if the jury was split along gender or racial lines, Drew said no, and that there was “no gender bias, no racial bias.”
As for Weinstein’s hiring of private investigators — including Black Cube — the juror told King, “If I was rich and powerful and I heard people were talking about me, I would hire an investigation firm to find out what they were talking about. And that’s really all we deduced from that.”
Drew, who indicated he was not interested in conducting a media tour, said he was comfortable with the jury’s verdicts but would not pull “back the curtain” on deliberations any further, adding he saw “no upside” in that.
King said the juror told her that the jury was “very put off” by being shown naked photos of Weinstein by the prosecution. “None of us thought we needed to see him nude,” King quoted the juror as saying, adding that the photos did not help the prosecution’s case.
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