Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting just one of the four accusers he was accused of violating after a nine-day trial and month-long trial in Los Angeles.
Five years after he first attracted attention from the #MeToo movement, the three guilty counts against a disgraced movie mogul involving an Italian actor and model identified as Jane Doe 1 at the trial nonetheless dealt a serious blow to him.
When he is convicted, the Oscar-winning actor, who is 70, could spend up to 24 years behind bars.
Since his first trial in New York two years ago, when he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault, he has already completed 23 years in prison.
In addition, he was exonerated of the charge of sexual battery against Jane Doe 3.
At the court in Los Angeles on Monday, the producer of Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction as well as a co-founder of the media corporation Miramax appeared frail and was dressed in a grey suit.
As he had done on earlier court dates, he did not use a wheelchair.
The previous Hollywood producer glanced down as he heard guilty on count one. He stared at his attorney as the court clerk read guilty on count two. He briefly fixed his gaze on the jury.
Over the course of more than four weeks, the trial heard testimony from hundreds of witnesses, many of it heartbreaking. However, the focus of Monday’s verdict was on claims made by four women between 2005 and 2013.
Three allegations of rape and four other counts of sexual assault were on the panel’s nine-day agenda. The jury was made up of eight men and four women.
Jane Doe 1, the victim of Weinstein’s rape conviction on Monday, is a model with Russian ancestry.
“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,” the woman stated in a statement after the decision. “I hope Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime.”
Ms. Siebel Newsom described in her moving statement how Weinstein had raped her in a hotel room in 2005 when she was working as a documentary filmmaker. She claimed in a statement on Monday after the decision: “Throughout the trial, Weinstein’s lawyers used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us survivors. The trial was a stark reminder that we as a society have work to do.”
