Harvey Weinstein convicted of rape in L.A. trial

The convictions had been associated to at least one sufferer. The jury was unable to succeed in a verdict on three different counts, and Weinstein was acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by one other lady, the AP reported.

Whereas the sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to him prompted a surge within the #MeToo motion a number of years in the past, Weinstein, 70, stays one of many few high-profile accused figures to face precise authorized repercussions. The Los Angeles jury deliberated for 10 days, in a number of situations asking for sure testimony to be learn again, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

In October 2017, following explosive reviews within the New York Instances and New Yorker detailing many years of rape and sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to Weinstein, authorities in New York, London and Los Angeles launched investigations into the movie government’s alleged conduct. He was charged in New York in Could 2018 on counts of rape and sexual abuse associated to 2 separate accusers; simply hours after that trial started in January 2020, he was charged in Los Angeles with the sexual assaults of two completely different girls in incidents stated to have taken place in 2013.

In February 2020, the New York jury found that Weinstein had compelled oral intercourse on a manufacturing assistant in 2006 and raped an aspiring actress in 2013, nevertheless it acquitted him of probably the most extreme expenses of predatory sexual assault. He acquired the 23-year state jail sentence the next month. In July 2021, the Los Angeles County District Legal professional’s Workplace indicted Weinstein on expenses of sexually assaulting 5 completely different girls in incidents spanning a decade. He was extradited for the indictment from New York to Los Angeles, the place he pleaded not guilty to each rely.

The Los Angeles trial kicked off in October following a failed bid from Weinstein’s legal professionals to push courtroom proceedings in an try and keep away from overlap with the “swirl of adversarial publicity” his staff believed would accompany the November launch of “She Said,” a feature-film rendering of the New York Instances’ real-life investigation into Weinstein.

In opening statements, which started Oct. 24, prosecutors argued there was a sample to how Weinstein — who lengthy had a status within the leisure trade for aggressive conduct, particularly because it associated to awards season marketing campaign ways — allegedly focused younger girls in Hollywood and threatened to hurt their careers in the event that they spoke up.

A number of girls who remained nameless testified through the trial. The primary, Jane Doe #1, stated she met Weinstein at a Los Angeles movie pageant in 2013 and that he confirmed up at her lodge room afterward, demanding he be let in, according to Deadline. She recalled “panicking with worry” as he allegedly compelled her to carry out oral intercourse on him, and said to the jury that she “needed to die” as he assaulted her within the lavatory. She added, “I want this by no means occurred to me.”

Jane Doe #2, an aspiring actress and playwright who beforehand testified within the New York trial as a supporting witness, additionally stated Weinstein assaulted her in a lodge lavatory in 2013, according to Variety. Jane Doe #2 had confirmed as much as the lodge anticipating to pitch a script to Weinstein within the foyer, as was organized by a comparatively new pal of hers. As an alternative, the accuser stated, the pal led her to Weinstein’s lodge suite after which left, shutting the door behind her.

Selection reported that one other accuser, a masseuse recognized as Jane Doe #3, testified that Weinstein trapped her in a lodge lavatory, the place he allegedly groped and yelled at her whereas masturbating. She stated she agreed to see him once more on the situation that he not make her uncomfortable once more, however that he repeated the conduct once more afterward.

Among the many most high-profile accusers to testify was Jennifer Siebel Newsom, 48, the documentary filmmaker and former actress married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Siebel Newsom, whose legal professional beforehand confirmed to news media that Siebel Newsom was the accuser referred to in courtroom filings as Jane Doe #4, accused Weinstein of raping her at a Beverly Hills lodge in 2005 once they met to debate her profession. She stated she hadn’t anticipated him to be alone when she arrived, according to the AP, and that he groped her whereas masturbating earlier than he then raped her.

An emotional Siebel Newsom recalled feeling nervous after she was directed to Weinstein’s lodge suite, however stated in courtroom that she didn’t go away as a result of “you don’t say no to Harvey Weinstein. He might make or wreck your profession.”

Prosecutors additionally aimed to focus on a sample in Weinstein’s alleged conduct by calling upon “prior dangerous acts” accusers. Certainly one of them, mannequin Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, in 2015 participated in a New York sting operation by recording audio of Weinstein wherein he admits to groping her and says he’s “used to” behaving that approach, the New Yorker reported.

Weinstein didn’t testify in his personal protection. His legal professionals pointed to what they claimed had been inconsistencies in a number of the accusers’ testimonies, together with particular particulars associated to Jane Doe #1′s declare that Weinstein demanded she carry out oral intercourse on him. Prosecutors established in opening statements that Weinstein has irregular genitalia resulting from a 1999 surgical procedure wherein his testicles had been faraway from his scrotum and relocated to his inside thighs, Variety reported. Alan Jackson, an legal professional representing Weinstein, claimed that Jane Doe #1′s story modified after listening to of Weinstein’s irregular genitalia, whereas she maintained that she had beforehand made word of it to police.

British prosecutors in June authorized charges in opposition to Weinstein, citing two counts of indecent assault in opposition to a lady in 1996. (He can’t be arrested and formally charged until extradited to England or Wales.) In August, over two years after Weinstein’s New York conviction, the states’s highest courtroom granted him an appeal.