Opening statements in Harvey Weinsteins third Manhattan sex crimes trial begin

Maybe third time’s the charm?Opening statements in Harvey Weinstein’s third Manhattan sex crimes trial are set to begin Tuesday morning — as the disgraced former Miramax perv tries once more to shake off rape allegations from a former actress.The jury — comprised of seven men and five women — was finalized late Friday in Manhattan Supreme court, where they will decide whether Weinstein, 74, raped actress Jessica Mann inside a New York City hotel room over a decade ago.Unlike his prior Manhattan trials, Mann is the only accuser set to testify.She has said she first met Weinstein after moving to Los Angeles to launch her acting career in late 2012.Weinstein faces one count of third-degree rape after jurors at last year’s re-trial were unable to decide whether to convict him on the charge after a tumultuous week of deliberations.The disgraced mogul was convicted of raping Mann following his first sex crimes trial in 2020.He had been sentenced to 23 years in prison before New York’s highest court overturned his conviction.At the re-trial, Mann sobbed on the witness stand as she told jurors about when Weinstein allegedly raped her.He was ultimately convicted of first-degree criminal sex act for assaulting Miriam “Mimi” Haley, a former TV production assistant, and is awaiting sentencing.Weinstein will be represented by Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorneys Marc Agnifilo, Teny Geragos and Jacob Kaplan — who have teased of launching a new defense for Weinstein.The trial is expected to take two weeks and will be before Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Curtis Farber....