At 70, the film producer, who is already serving a 23-year prison sentence after his conviction in New York in 2020 for similar facts. After the Los Angeles verdict, he faces up to 24 additional years behind bars.
Verdict shared for Harvey Weinstein: the former Hollywood producer was found guilty on Monday December 19 of rape and two sexual assaults at the end of his trial in Los Angeles, only half of the charges for which he was prosecuted.
After two weeks of deliberation, the jurors found him guilty on all charges brought by the first of the four accusers. They found him not guilty regarding those of a second woman, and did not issue a verdict regarding the allegations made by the other two. In a gray suit, the former movie giant buried his head in his hands as the convictions were handed down.
The 70-year-old former ‘king’ of cinema, who produced award-winning hits like Pulp Fiction or The Artist, is already serving a 23-year prison sentence after his conviction in New York in 2020 for similar acts. After the Los Angeles verdict, he faces up to 24 additional years behind bars.
The press investigations that revealed the first accusations in 2017 provoked #MeToo, a global movement for the liberation of women’s voices on gender-based and sexual violence.
“Harvey Weinstein destroyed a part of me forever” reacted Monday in a press release the first victim, to which the jurors gave entirely right. Anonymous like the other four plaintiffs, she hoped that he “never in his life sees the outside of a prison cell.”
“A bit of fairness”
During this new trial, these four women accused the producer in great detail of forcing them to have sex in hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013. A fifth finally refused to testify.
After weeks of harrowing hearings, often interrupted by sobbing plaintiffs, the prosecution had portrayed Mr. Weinstein as an all-powerful ogre, a “predator” whose stranglehold on Hollywood – the films he produced have received more than 330 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes – has long kept his victims from speaking out, for fear of career repercussions.
Los Angeles prosecutor George Gascon regretted the half-hearted decision of the jurors. “I am of course disappointed that the jury was divided on some of the counts, but I hope that its partial verdict brings at least some justice to the victims”he reacted in a press release.
The verdict of this new trial in Los Angeles was particularly important for the ex-producer. Because after an initial refusal of justice, the New York Supreme Court finally authorized him in August to appeal his 2020 conviction, an initial decision which had been a major victory for the #MeToo movement.
In total, nearly 90 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette, have accused Harvey Weinstein of harassment, sexual assault or rape. But the statute of limitations has been exceeded in many of these cases, some dating back to 1977. The ex-producer is also charged in the United Kingdom with sexual assaults which date back to 1996.