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Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday of rape and two sexual assaults following his trial in Los Angeles. The 70-year-old former “king” of cinema, who produced award-winning hits such as “Pulp Fiction” or “The Artist”, was previously sentenced in New York in 2020 to 23 years in prison for similar acts.
Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty Monday, December 19, of rape and two sexual assaults at the end of his trial in Los Angeles – nearly half of the charges for which he was tried by four women.
After two weeks of deliberation, jurors found him guilty on all charges brought by the first of four accusers. They found him not guilty on the charges of a second woman and did not deliver a verdict on the charges brought by the other two.
The 70-year-old former “king” of cinema, who produced award-winning blockbusters such as “Pulp Fiction” or “The Artist”, was already sentenced in New York in 2020 to 23 years in prison for similar acts.
Four victims testified
During that retrial, four women who testified anonymously strongly accused the producer of forcing them to have sex in hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013. A fifth ultimately refused to testify.
After weeks of agonizing hearings, often interrupted by sobbing plaintiffs, the prosecution has portrayed Harvey Weinstein as an all-powerful ogre, whose stranglehold on Hollywood – films he produced have received more than 330 Academy Award nominations and 81 statuettes – has long prevented his victims from speaking, for fear of repercussions on their careers.
In a gray suit, the former cinema giant buried his head in his hands as the sentences were pronounced. After this verdict, a judge has yet to rule on Harvey Weinstein’s sentence.
For the three counts of which he was found guilty, the 70-year-old faces a sentence of up to 18 years in prison. A maximum that could be increased to 24 years, depending on some aggravating circumstances on which the jury has yet to decide.
On appeal to New York
The verdict of this new trial in Los Angeles was especially important for the former producer. Because after an initial justice denial, the New York Supreme Court finally allowed him in August to appeal his 2020 conviction, an initial decision that had been a major victory for the #MeToo movement.
Combative, his defense systematically questioned the word of the four accusers during the trial and insisted on the lack of material evidence and forensic elements. “Tears don’t tell the truth,” launched Alan Jackson, one of the producer’s lawyers, chastising an accusation that “relies entirely” on the jury’s willingness to believe the plaintiffs.
sow doubt
Harvey Weinstein’s defense specifically indicted Jennifer Siebel-Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who revealed her identity during the trial. According to the defense, she had an affair for favors in Hollywood, which she later regretted and turned into accusations, navigating the avalanche of revelations aimed at the producer at the onset of the #MeToo movement in 2017.
One argument that has instilled doubts among the jurors: Jennifer Siebel-Newsom is one of two women for whom they have not rendered a verdict.
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 several of these cases, some dating back to 1977. The former manufacturer is also accused in the UK of sexual assaults dating back to 1996.
With the AFP
