Sex Assault Accuser Jessica Mann Has a Blunt, Emotional Response to Harvey Weinstein Calling Jail a 'Hellhole'

Actress Jessica Mann, who accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her in 2013, responded sharply to Weinstein's assertion in court on Wednesday, Jan. 29, that Rikers Island is a "hellhole."

"The irony of Weinstein begging for privilege to be released out of his 'hell hole,' is not lost on me,” Mann said in a statement sent to PEOPLE. “The hell he put in my hole will last a lifetime."

On Wednesday morning, the former Hollywood studio head appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court where he asked Judge Curtis Farber to move up the start of the retrial for his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges. He cited his poor health.

Sitting in a wheelchair, Weinstein told the judge, "I can't hold on. I'm begging for you to move the date...I want to be out of this hellhole."

The retrial is scheduled to begin on April 15. But Weinstein, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year, told the judge he "won't be there" if he remains held on Rikers Island.

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Asking the judge to start the trial a week earlier on April 7, he said, "I want this to be over with.”

"Every day is a struggle," he pleaded. "Everyday is a struggle in my heart." 

Related: Harvey Weinstein Begs Judge to Move Trial Date Up, Calls Jail 'Hellhole': 'Can't Hold On Much Longer'

In 2020, Weinstein was found guilty of raping Mann in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting another woman in 2006.

That conviction was overturned last year after the New York Court of Appeals ruled he didn't receive a fair trial because women who were not part of the case were allowed to testify.

Weinstein, 72, was also indicted in September on new sex crimes charges alleged by three different victims in New York City. Judge Farber on Wednesday denied a motion by Weinstein's attorneys to dismiss that indictment.

Weinstein was also convicted in California in 2022 on charges he raped an actress in a Beverly Hills hotel and sentenced to 16 years in prison. That conviction still stands. His attorneys are appealing it.

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