A shared verdict. The sentence pronounced this Monday closes a trial that opened almost two months ago, on October 10, in Los Angeles. Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape and two sexual assaults, but not guilty of the facts alleged by a second woman. Jurors did not reach a verdict on the allegations of the last two plaintiffs.
Four women had thus testified against him – a fifth eventually resigned – accusing him in detail of forcing them to have coerced sex in hotels in Beverly Hills or Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013.
Already sentenced to 23 years in prison in a previous trial
Dressed in a gray suit, the former movie giant buried his head in his hands as the sentences were handed down. This is the former Weinstein Company boss’s second conviction for rape and sexual assault. On March 11, 2020, a New York court sentenced him to 23 years in prison in a similar but separate case.
“Harvey Weinstein destroyed a part of me forever,” the first victim reacted in a statement on Monday, to which the jurors fully agreed.
Anonymous like the other four plaintiffs, he hoped that he would “never in his life see the outside of a prison cell.” For his part, Los Angeles prosecutor George Gascon regretted the unenthusiastic decision of the jurors.
“Of course, I am disappointed that the jury was divided on some of the charges, but I hope that their partial verdict brings at least some justice to the victims,” he reacted in a press release.
Many cases prescribed
Since October 2017, and the explosion caused by the consecutive publication of two articles in the New York Times so he New Yorker Accusing him of sexual abuse, around 90 women who claimed to have been his victims spoke out, including many actresses such as Asia Argento and Rosanna Arquette. Harvey Weinstein is also accused in a case carried out on British soil and related to alleged assaults committed in 1996.
However, multiple testimony implicating Harvey Weinstein will not consistently lead to a trial, as many of the alleged cases are covered by the statute of limitations.
Source: BFM TV
