Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault after New York retrial

MTV Lebanon

a day ago

Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assault in New York, after a sex crimes conviction in the state was overturned last year.
A panel of seven female and five male jurors deliberated for five days in the six-week trial before unanimously voting to convict the disgraced film mogul of one of three counts.
The jury found him not guilty of an additional sexual assault charge, and have yet to return a verdict on a charge of rape.
The conviction is in addition to a 16-year sentence that Weinstein has yet to serve after being convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles.
The trial was based on the testimony of three women - former television production assistant Miriam Haley, actress Jessica Mann, and model Kaja Sokola. All three accused Weinstein of using his power in the entertainment industry to sexually abuse them.
On Wednesday, the jury found Weinstein guilty of assaulting Ms Haley, but found him not guilty of assaulting Ms Sokola. They have yet to return a verdict on Ms Mann, and plan to resume deliberations on the rape count on Thursday.
An appeals court overturned Weinstein's previous conviction for sex crimes in New York last April, finding the 73-year-old did not receive a fair trial in 2020 because a judge allowed testimony from women who made allegations against him beyond the charges at hand.
Weinstein was then indicted on new sexual assault charges in the state in September.
In a statement, Weinstein's spokesperson said the trial was "fair until we got to the jury deliberations".
"More than one juror had complained that other jurors had preconceived notions and are using their beliefs of Harvey's life as evidence of guilt," the spokesperson said. "We believe there are serious appellate issues and they will be explored."
Jury deliberations have been plagued with tensions over the past week. On Monday, the foreperson accused other jurors of "attacking" other people and trying to change their minds. He said jurors were considering Weinstein's past and other allegations outside the realm of the case in making their decisions.
The judge said he would give the jury an instruction about only considering the allegations in the case.
Weinstein - who has cancer and diabetes - is in poor health and stayed at Bellevue Hospital rather than Riker's Island jail during the course of the trial. He sat in a wheelchair for the proceedings.
The retrial in New York centred on two women who brought allegations against Weinstein for his 2020 trial, Ms Mann and Ms Haley.
It also included new allegations from Ms Sokola, a Polish former model and actress, who accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her when she was 19. The jury found him not guilty in the assault on Wednesday.
The three women testified for days about the sexual abuse they alleged they endured at the hands of Weinstein.
All three said they met Weinstein when they were young and looking for work opportunities in the entertainment industry. He then forced himself on them during private meetings at hotels and his homes, the women alleged.
His legal team had argued that his sexual encounters with the women were all consensual and a sort of "friends with benefits" arrangement.
Weinstein's attorneys attempted to chip away at the credibility of the women, showing warm messages some of the women exchanged with the film mogul after the alleged assaults.
In total, Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault and rape by more than 100 women. While not all reports resulted in criminal charges, the California conviction means he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.
The decision by his accusers to come forward, and his subsequent conviction in New York, galvanised the #MeToo movement against sex abuse by powerful men.
Before the allegations against him emerged, Weinstein and his brother Bob were among Hollywood's ultimate power players.
Weinstein co-founded Miramax film studio, whose hits included Shakespeare in Love, which won best picture at the Academy Awards, and Pulp Fiction.
Weinstein has also faced a number of civil lawsuits, including from a group of women who accused him of sexual harassment and rape. The case resulted in a $19m (£14.2) settlement in 2020.