Harvey Weinstein, the previous Hollywood mogul whose reported abuse of actresses and different ladies helped ignite the #MeToo motion, has been discovered responsible of committing rape and different sexual crimes by a Los Angeles jury.
The decision on Monday marks the second conviction for the 70-year-old former head of Miramax, who was sentenced to 23 years in jail after a New York jury discovered him responsible of rape and sexual assault in 2020. He might resist 24 years in jail in California following the most recent conviction.
“It’s time for the defendant’s reign of terror to finish,” deputy district legal professional Marlene Martinez stated within the prosecution’s closing argument, in accordance with media stories. “It’s time for the kingmaker to be delivered to justice.”
Weinstein was discovered responsible of three counts of sexual assault, together with the rape and compelled oral copulation of an actress throughout a Los Angeles movie competition in 2013. However the jury was unable to succeed in a choice on a number of different counts after 10 days of deliberation.
The jury failed to succeed in a choice on prices involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a film-maker and the spouse of California governor Gavin Newsom. A mistrial was declared on prices associated to Newsom and one other girl, in accordance with media stories.
Weinstein was additionally acquitted of allegations that he dedicated sexual battery on a therapeutic massage therapist who handled him at a resort in 2010.
“Harvey Weinstein won’t ever have the ability to rape one other girl,” Siebel Newsom stated in a statement. “He’ll spend the remainder of his life behind bars the place he belongs.”
Throughout the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, Weinstein and his unbiased Miramax studio — which he ran together with his brother, Bob — shook up Hollywood with movies reminiscent of Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction. He modified how Oscar campaigns have been waged and launched the careers of Gwyneth Paltrow and Quentin Tarantino.
However his leisure empire collapsed after reporting by The New York Occasions and The New Yorker in 2017 revealed his serial assaults in opposition to actresses and use of non-disclosure agreements to silence them.
Weinstein’s conviction in New York was upheld after an preliminary enchantment, however his case might be heard subsequent yr by the state’s highest courtroom. He’s anticipated to enchantment in opposition to his California conviction.
Weinstein’s attorneys stated two of the ladies had lied about their encounters with him, and claimed the opposite two ladies’s encounters with him have been consensual.
“Remorse will not be the identical factor as rape,” stated Alan Jackson, an legal professional for Weinstein, in accordance with the Related Press. A lawyer for Weinstein didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
