Former American film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in prison in Los Angeles for the 2013 rape and sexual assault of an Italian model at a Beverly Hills hotel.
Weinstein, 70, is already serving a 23-year prison sentence following his conviction in New York in 2020 on similar charges and which he has appealed.
The former producer’s defense also appealed Thursday’s conviction in Los Angeles, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“I maintain that I am innocent. I have never raped or sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1,” Weinstein said, referring to the Italian model who wept in court as the former producer spoke.
This woman, identified only as Jane Doe 1, told the court how that crime changed her life: “I was excited about my future. Everything changed after the defendant brutally assaulted me. There is no prison sentence long enough to to undo the damage.”
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench issued the ruling today after rejecting a motion by Weinstein’s attorneys for a new trial.
On December 19, 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape and two sexual assaults, nearly half the charges for which four women had sued him, at the end of his trial in Los Angeles.
However, jurors found him not guilty on the charges of a second woman and failed to reach a verdict on the charges of two others.
Weinstein, who produced award-winning hits such as “Pulp Fiction” (1994) or “The Artist” (2011), had already been sentenced in New York in 2020 to 23 years in prison for similar acts.
The fall of this cinematic figure in 2017 freed the voices of many women and spawned the #MeToo movement.
In this second trial, four women testified anonymously against Weinstein.
The former producer’s defense sought to question the word of the four plaintiffs, highlighting in particular the absence of forensic evidence to support their stories.
After the ex-producer’s criminal conviction, the model, recognized as a victim at the end of the trial, filed a complaint in early February in a Los Angeles court to obtain civil compensation, although the amount claimed was not specified.
In 2021, a civil settlement had awarded 17 million dollars (about 16 million euros) to several dozen women who accused the former producer, but this woman was not one of them.
Rumors about Weinstein’s behavior had been circulating in Hollywood for years, and the scandal finally ‘blew up’ in 2017, thanks to press investigations that collected various allegations.
Since then, nearly 90 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette, have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, assault or rape.
In addition to criminal proceedings in the United States, the former producer is also charged in the United Kingdom with sexual assaults dating back to 1996.
Source: TSF
