LOS ANGELES (AP) — After a month-long trial and 9 days of deliberations, Los Angeles jurors on Monday discovered Harvey Weinstein responsible of the rape and sexual assault of simply one of many 4 accusers he was charged with abusing.
However the three responsible counts involving an Italian actor and mannequin recognized on the trial as Jane Doe 1 nonetheless struck a significant blow in opposition to the disgraced film mogul, and offered one other #MeToo second of reckoning, 5 years after he turned a magnet for the motion.
Weinstein, 70, who is 2 years right into a 23-year sentence for a rape and sexual assault conviction in New York that’s beneath enchantment, may stand up to 24 years in jail in California when he is sentenced.
He was discovered responsible of rape, pressured oral copulation and one other sexual misconduct rely involving the girl who mentioned he appeared uninvited at her lodge room door throughout a Los Angeles movie pageant in 2013.
“Harvey Weinstein without end destroyed part of me that evening in 2013 and I’ll by no means get that again. The prison trial was brutal and Weinstein’s attorneys put me by hell on the witness stand, however I knew I needed to see this by to the tip, and I did,” the girl mentioned in a press release after the decision. “I hope Weinstein by no means sees the surface of a jail cell throughout his lifetime.”
Weinstein was acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by a therapeutic massage therapist who handled him at a lodge in 2010.
The jury was unable to achieve a choice on counts involving two accusers, notably rape and sexual assault expenses involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and the spouse of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. A mistrial was declared on these counts.
Weinstein regarded down on the desk and appeared to place his face in his arms when the preliminary responsible counts have been learn. He regarded ahead as the remainder of the decision was learn.
“Harvey is clearly disenchanted within the verdict. He is aware of what occurred and what by no means did,” Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer mentioned in an e-mail, saying there was a powerful foundation for an enchantment on the convictions. “Harvey is grateful for the jury’s work on the opposite counts, and he’s decided to proceed his authorized challenges in finally proving his innocence.”
Los Angeles County District Legal professional George Gascón applauded the accusers for his or her bravery to testify within the case, saying in a press release he was disenchanted by the break up verdict however hoped it brings “some measure of justice to the victims.”
“Harvey Weinstein won’t ever be capable to rape one other girl. He’ll spend the remainder of his life behind bars the place he belongs,” Siebel Newsom mentioned in a press release. “All through the trial, Weinstein’s attorneys used sexism, misogyny, and bullying techniques to intimidate, demean, and mock us survivors. The trial was a stark reminder that we as a society have work to do.”
Siebel Newsom’s intense and dramatic testimony, by which she described being raped by Weinstein in a lodge room in 2005, introduced the trial its most dramatic moments. However solely eight of the 12 jurors agreed to search out Weinstein responsible of these counts.
Jurors have been deadlocked 10-2 on a sexual battery rely involving Lauren Younger, the one accuser who testified at each Weinstein trials. She mentioned she was a mannequin aspiring to be an actor and screenwriter who was assembly with Weinstein a couple of script in 2013 when he trapped her in a lodge lavatory, groped her and masturbated in entrance of her.
Missing any forensic proof or eyewitness accounts of years-old allegations, the case hinged closely on the tales and credibility of the 4 ladies on the middle of the fees.
The ladies’s tales echoed the allegations of dozens of others who’ve emerged since Weinstein turned a #MeToo lightning rod beginning with tales within the New York Instances in 2017. A film about that reporting, “She Stated,” was launched throughout the trial, and jurors have been repeatedly warned to not see it.
It was the protection that made #MeToo a problem throughout the trial, nonetheless, emphasizing that not one of the 4 ladies went to the authorities till after the motion made Weinstein a goal.
Protection attorneys mentioned two of the ladies — together with the one he could be discovered responsible of raping — have been fully mendacity about their encounters with Weinstein. They mentioned the opposite two had “100% consensual” sexual interactions that they later reframed.
Protection attorneys mentioned throughout the trial that if Siebel Newsom hadn’t reached her later prominence she could be “simply one other bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get forward in Hollywood.”
“Remorse just isn’t the identical factor as rape,” Weinstein legal professional Alan Jackson mentioned in his closing argument.
He urged jurors to look previous the the ladies’s emotional testimony and give attention to the factual proof.
“‘Imagine us as a result of we’re mad, imagine us as a result of we cried,’” Jackson mentioned jurors have been being requested to do. “Nicely, fury doesn’t make reality. And tears don’t make reality.”
All the ladies concerned within the expenses glided by Jane Doe in court docket. The Related Press doesn’t sometimes identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly or conform to be named by their attorneys, as the ladies named right here did.
Prosecutors referred to as 40 different witnesses in an try to provide context and corroboration to these tales. 4 have been different ladies who weren’t a part of the fees however testified that Weinstein raped or sexually assaulted them. They have been dropped at the stand to ascertain a sample of sexual predation.
Weinstein beat 4 different felony expenses earlier than the trial even ended when prosecutors mentioned a girl he was charged with raping twice and sexually assaulting twice wouldn’t seem to testify. They declined to provide a purpose. Decide Lisa Lench dismissed these expenses.
Weinstein’s newest conviction arms a victory to victims of sexual misconduct of well-known males within the wake of some authorized setbacks, together with the dismissal of Invoice Cosby’s conviction final yr. The rape trial of “That ’70s Present” actor Danny Masterson, held concurrently and simply down the corridor from Weinstein’s, resulted in a mistrial. And actor Kevin Spacey was victorious at a sexual battery civil trial in New York final month.
Weinstein’s New York conviction survived an preliminary enchantment, however the case is ready to be heard by the state’s highest court docket subsequent yr. The California conviction, additionally more likely to be appealed, means he won’t stroll free even when the East Coast conviction is thrown out.
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Observe AP Leisure Author Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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For extra on the Harvey Weinstein trial, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-weinstein
