Los Angeles jury finds Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape, sexual assault
A Los Angeles jury found infamous film producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of three charges of sexual assault, including rape, on Monday.
70-year-old Weinstein faces seven charges involving four women. Three counts of forceful rape, two of sexual battery by restraint, one of forcible oral copulation, and one of sexual penetration by a foreign object were filed. All charges were dismissed.
Jane Doe 1 accused Weinstein of rape, forced oral copulation, and penetration by a foreign object. Jane Doe 3, his accuser, was acquitted of sexual battery. Mistrial declared on accusations involving Jane Doe 2 and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Weinstein may get 24 years in prison if jurors find aggravating circumstances. The jury will hear arguments on Tuesday.
After the verdict, Jane Doe 1 said: “Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back. The criminal trial was brutal and Weinstein’s lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to see this through to the end, and I did.”
She stated, “I hope Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime,”
Weinstein is serving a 23-year jail sentence for third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sex act.
The former Hollywood tycoon and co-founder of Miramax, which produced “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” was accused of sex assault five years ago, helping to inspire the #MeToo movement.
If convicted of all 11 charges in Los Angeles, he risked 65 years in jail. Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench dropped four initial counts against Weinstein last month. The fifth accuser wasn’t addressed in prosecutors’ opening comments and she didn’t testify. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office hasn’t stated why.
Four women directly accused Weinstein in Los Angeles; four others testified. Anonymous accusers remain. Jane Doe #1, a Russian actor and model based in Italy, was the first witness to testify. Jane Doe #3 testified that Weinstein cornered her in a hotel restroom and attacked her in 2010.
Others have come forward. Jennifer Siebel Newsom testified in mid-November; Lauren Young testified at both Weinstein’s Los Angeles and New York trials; Kelly Sipherd; Ambra Battilana Gutierrez; Natassia Malthe; and Ashley Matthau.
Gloria Allred, who represented Lauren Young in both the New York and Los Angeles trials, stated she was “extremely glad that there were convictions in this case” Young is willing to testify a third time if prosecutors decide to retry Weinstein.
Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial followed his New York trial. In February 2020, he was convicted of third-degree rape and a first-degree criminal sex act, but not of three more serious offences, including predatory sexual assault, which could have led to a life sentence. Weinstein is appealing his conviction.
More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of decades-old sexual assault and wrongdoing. Many spoke up after 2017 reporting by The New York Times and The New Yorker disclosed the charges and shared women’s tales.
The investigative findings and subsequent allegations against Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct and power abuses in Hollywood and others. People went up about sexual assault and wrongdoing by powerful men in a chain reaction called the Weinstein effect.
Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Kate Beckinsale, Cate Blanchett, Rosanna Arquette, Salma Hayek, Helena Bonham Carter, Paz de la Huerta, and others have accused Weinstein of misconduct.