The jailed former Hollywood stalwart faces a further 24 years for raping an Italian woman in Los Angeles in 2013.
Disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of rape and two counts of sexual assault against an Italian actress and model – known as Jane Doe 1 – by a jury in Los Angeles, California.
After a month of trial and nine days of deliberations, Monday’s three counts mark the second conviction of the former Hollywood kingmaker who became the notorious face of the #MeToo movement in the United States after a litany of sexual abuse allegations emerged five years ago. The jury also acquitted the 70-year-old on Monday or could not rule in the cases of the other three accusers.
Weinstein is already serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex crimes in a New York court.
“Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get it back,” Jane Doe 1 said in a statement released shortly after Monday’s verdict.
“The criminal trial was brutal and Weinstein’s lawyers gave me hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to go through with it, and I did. I hope Weinstein will never see the outside of a prison cell in his lifetime,” she said.
Weinstein faces up to 18 years in prison for the counts he was convicted on, but aggravating factors could increase that sentence to 24 years.
The lawyers will return to court on Tuesday to deliver arguments related to aggravating factors.
“Sexism, misogyny and bullying tactics”
The charges Weinstein was acquitted of on Monday related to an allegation of sexual assault made by a massage therapist who treated him at a hotel in 2010. Jurors were also unable to rule on charges involving two other accusers, including rape and sexual assault charges involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, documentary filmmaker and wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
“Harvey Weinstein can never rape another woman. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars, where he belongs,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement.
“Throughout the trial, Weinstein’s attorneys used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us, the survivors. The trial was a stark reminder that we, as society, we have work to do,” she said.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon said he was “disappointed” the jury was split on some of the counts.
But, he said, he hoped “his partial verdicts would at least do some measure of justice for the victims.”
During five weeks of testimony in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusers including Siebel Newsom said Weinstein lured them to what they believed were business meetings. In often graphic testimony, the women alleged that the powerful producer of “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” masturbated in front of them and groped or raped them.
Prosecutors also called 40 other witnesses to try to give context and corroborate these stories.
Four were other women who were not part of the charges but testified that Weinstein raped or sexually assaulted them. They said he promised to help her get an audition or a book deal, then set up meetings where the staff disappeared and left them alone with him.
Weinstein said all of his sexual encounters were consensual and pleaded not guilty.
Weinstein was first convicted of sexual misconduct in New York in February 2020. He was extradited from New York to a prison in Los Angeles in July 2021.
Weinstein is appealing his conviction and his prison sentence in New York.
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