Content material warning: this text discusses rape and sexual assault.
A Los Angeles jury has convicted Harvey Weinstein on three counts of rape and sexual assault towards one lady, whereas remaining divided on allegations relating to 3 different accusers.
The decision was reached after greater than 9 days of deliberation throughout Weinstein’s month-long trial, which detailed a number of allegations of sexual assault towards the disgraced producer throughout the state of California. Jurors convicted Weinstein of the rape and sexual assault of 1 lady, a European mannequin and actor who was referred to anonymously as ‘Jane Doe 1’.
The jury was divided on three different costs of rape and sexual assault made by two seperate accusers – certainly one of whom was Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the spouse of California Governor Gavin Newsom – and acquitted Weinstein of one other sexual battery allegation made by a fourth lady. A mistrial was declared on these counts for which the jury couldn’t attain a verdict. Previous to the conviction, Weinstein had pleaded not responsible to all seven of the fees towards him.
The fees regarding ‘Jane Doe 1’ stem from the 2013 assault of a lady in a Beverly Hills lodge room. As reported by CNN, Jane Doe 1 mentioned in an announcement through her legal professional that Weinstein “eternally destroyed part of me that night time in 2013.” She continued: “I knew I needed to see this by the tip, and I did… I hope Harvey Weinstein by no means sees the skin of a jail cell throughout his lifetime.”
In the meantime, Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer mentioned in an announcement that the disgraced producer “is clearly dissatisfied” by the conviction, however that there stays “good floor to attraction based mostly on time and placement of alleged occasions”. Engelmayer continued: “[Weinstein] is grateful the jury took their time to deliberate on the opposite counts and he’s ready to proceed preventing for his innocence.”
Weinstein faces as much as 24 years in jail when sentenced on the convicted counts of rape and sexual assault. That sentence is on high of the 23-year sentence Weinstein is already serving for comparable crimes in New York, following the producer’s rape conviction inside that state in 2020. Whereas that New York jury discovered Weinstein responsible of third-degree rape, they likewise acquitted him of extra costs regarding predatory sexual assault.
In accordance with ABC, Weinstein plans to attraction the Los Angeles verdict, on high of the present attraction of his conviction in New York. The allegations towards Weinstein, which started surfacing in main publications in 2017, are credited with galvanising the #MeToo motion, which noticed scores of girls come ahead with allegations of sexual assault and harassment throughout the leisure trade and past.
The reviews which spurred the motion are the topic of the movie She Stated, which jurors had been instructed not watch amid its launch throughout the Los Angeles trial.