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NEW YORK — <\/span>Jessica Mann once had reason to think she was done being publicly grilled about Harvey Weinstein<\/a>. <\/p>\n She had spent three days<\/a>telling<\/a> a jury that the ex-movie mogul raped her, explaining why she continued a relationship with him afterward and discussing other deeply personal aspects of her life, once sobbing so hard that court ended early<\/a>. Weinstein had then been convicted, in a 2020 verdict<\/a> seen as a victory for the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n Yet six years later, Mann again walked to a witness stand, passing Weinstein in court on Monday, and beginning \u2014 for a third time \u2014 to give a jury her account of what happened between them.<\/p>\n Mann testified that she met Weinstein at an acquaintance\u2019s engagement party around the beginning of 2013. She said he was wearing a tuxedo and \u201clooked very jolly, so I went up and introduced myself to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Mann was living in Los Angeles and trying to break into acting, she said. Later that evening, she said, she ran into Weinstein again. She testified that he boasted about his moviemaking prowess and his ability to spot talent.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said I was really pretty, prettier than Natalie Portman,\u201d Mann testified, echoing her prior testimony. She added that she ended up giving Weinstein her phone number, thinking she\u2019d make a professional \u2014 not romantic \u2014 connection.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was interested in my look. I thought I just got discovered,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Weinstein denies sexually assaulting<\/a> anyone. He watched from his wheelchair at the defense table as Mann testified, occasionally leaning over to talk with his lawyer. Mann only looked at Weinstein when asked to point him out in the courtroom.<\/p>\n Mann\u2019s allegation of a 2013 rape in a Manhattan hotel is again up for consideration because of a series of legal switchbacks. First, Weinstein’s 2020 conviction was overturned<\/a> for reasons unrelated to her testimony. Then a jury failed to decide<\/a> her part of a retrial that involved multiple accusers and allegations last year, leaving only her rape charge to be tried again.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served,\u201d Mann said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n That determination now stands to be tested. <\/p>\n Mann could face days of questioning by prosecutors and Weinstein’s new lawyers<\/a>. Like their predecessors, they have portrayed Mann as a canny wannabe who got involved with a Hollywood heavy-hitter, had entirely consensual sex with him, enjoyed his connections and invitations, then turned on him after news reports<\/a> about other women\u2019s claims about Weinstein. The 2017 reporting catalyzed the #MeToo movement. <\/p>\n Mann, 40, grew up in a small town in Washington state and trained as a hairstylist, but she yearned to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s. She was sometimes so broke that she lived in her car, but she had done some commercial and film work before she met Weinstein.<\/p>\n Thrilled that the Oscar-winning producer expressed interest in her career, Mann accepted invitations to get together, starting with a shopping trip for books about cinema, she testified. Within a couple months, she has said, Weinstein started making sexual overtures that she didn’t invite but accepted.<\/p>\n She has said she embarked, with jumbled feelings, on a relationship with the then-married mogul. Sometimes she appreciated his encouragement, other times she resented his sexual demands, and she was always cognizant of his career-making power.<\/p>\n In March 2013, Mann and a friend traveled to New York, and she arranged to meet Weinstein for breakfast with her pals. She testified at prior trials that he got her alone in a hotel room, slammed the door shut when she tried to leave and ultimately raped her, though she told him \u201cI don’t want to do this\u201d and \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n Afterward, Mann kept seeing and having what she has said were largely consensual sexual encounters with Weinstein. At points over the next roughly four years, she emailed him \u201cmiss you,\u201d \u201cthere is no one else I would enjoy catching up with that understands me quite like you\u201d and \u201cI love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.\u201d<\/p>\n Weinstein’s lawyers have argued that the messages show there was nothing but a caring relationship. Mann has said she was trying to manage a complicated dynamic with a volatile man. <\/p>\n The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n