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Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape in Los Angeles trial

Former movie mogul 2 years into a 23-year sentence for an earlier rape conviction
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FILE - Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 4 2022. Weinstein鈥檚 defense team has rested its case and closing arguments will soon begin at the Los Angeles trial of the former movie magnate. (Etienne Laurent/Pool Photo via AP, File)

After a month-long trial and nine days of deliberations, Los Angeles jurors on Monday found guilty of the rape and sexual assault of just one of the four accusers he was charged with abusing.

But the three guilty counts involving an Italian actor and model known at the trial as Jane Doe 1 still struck a major blow against the disgraced movie mogul, and provided another #MeToo moment of reckoning, five years after he became a magnet for the movement.

Weinstein, 70, who is two years into a 23-year sentence for a rape and sexual assault conviction in New York that is under appeal, could get up to 24 years in prison in California when he鈥檚 sentenced.

He was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another sexual misconduct count involving the woman who said door during a Los Angeles film festival in 2013.

鈥淗arvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back. The criminal trial was brutal and Weinstein鈥檚 lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to see this through to the end, and I did,鈥 the woman said in a statement after the verdict. 鈥淚 hope Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime.鈥

Weinstein was acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by a massage therapist who treated him at a hotel in 2010.

The jury was unable to reach a decision on counts involving two accusers, notably rape and sexual assault charges involving , a documentary filmmaker and the wife of California Gov. Gavin 亚洲天堂om. A mistrial was declared on those counts.

Weinstein looked down at the table and appeared to put his face in his hands when the initial guilty counts were read. He looked forward as the rest of the verdict was read.

鈥淗arvey is obviously disappointed in the verdict. He knows what happened and what never did,鈥 Weinstein鈥檚 spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said in an email, saying there was a strong basis for an appeal on the convictions. 鈥淗arvey is grateful for the jury鈥檚 work on the other counts, and he鈥檚 determined to continue his legal challenges in ultimately proving his innocence.鈥

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gasc贸n applauded the accusers for their bravery to testify in the case, saying in a statement he was disappointed by the split verdict but hoped it brings 鈥渟ome measure of justice to the victims.鈥

鈥淗arvey Weinstein will never be able to rape another woman. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars where he belongs,鈥 Siebel 亚洲天堂om said in a statement. 鈥淭hroughout the trial, Weinstein鈥檚 lawyers used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us survivors. The trial was a stark reminder that we as a society have work to do.鈥

Siebel 亚洲天堂om鈥檚 intense and dramatic testimony, in which she described being raped by Weinstein in a hotel room in 2005, brought the trial its most dramatic moments. But only eight of the 12 jurors agreed to find Weinstein guilty of those counts.

Jurors were deadlocked 10-2 on a sexual battery count involving Lauren Young, the only accuser who testified at both Weinstein trials. She said she was a model aspiring to be an actor and screenwriter who was meeting with Weinstein about a script in 2013 when he trapped her in a hotel bathroom, groped her and masturbated in front of her.

Lacking any forensic evidence or eyewitness accounts of years-old allegations, the case hinged heavily on the stories and credibility of the .

The women鈥檚 stories echoed the allegations of dozens of others who have emerged since Weinstein became a #MeToo lightning rod starting with stories in the New York Times in 2017. A movie about that reporting, was released during the trial, and jurors were repeatedly warned not to see it.

It was the defense that made #MeToo an issue during the trial, however, emphasizing that none of the four women went to the authorities until after the movement made Weinstein a target.

Defense lawyers said two of the women 鈥 including the one he would be found guilty of raping 鈥 were entirely lying about their encounters with Weinstein. They said the other two had 鈥100% consensual鈥 sexual interactions that they later reframed.

Defense attorneys said during the trial that if Siebel 亚洲天堂om hadn鈥檛 reached her later prominence she would be 鈥渏ust another bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead in Hollywood.鈥

鈥淩egret is not the same thing as rape,鈥 .

He urged jurors to look past the the women鈥檚 emotional testimony and focus on the factual evidence.

鈥溾楤elieve us because we鈥檙e mad, believe us because we cried,鈥欌 Jackson said jurors were being asked to do. 鈥淲ell, fury does not make fact. And tears do not make truth.鈥

All the women involved in the charges went by Jane Doe in court. The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly or agree to be named through their attorneys, as the women named here did.

Prosecutors called 40 other witnesses in an attempt to give context and corroboration to those stories. Four were other women who were not part of the charges but testified that Weinstein raped or sexually assaulted them. They were brought to the stand to establish a pattern of sexual predation.

Weinstein beat four other felony charges before the trial even ended when prosecutors said a woman he was charged with raping twice and sexually assaulting twice would not appear to testify. They declined to give a reason. Judge Lisa Lench dismissed those charges.

Weinstein鈥檚 latest conviction hands a victory to victims of sexual misconduct of famous men in the wake of some legal setbacks, including the last year. The rape trial of 鈥淭hat 鈥70s Show鈥 actor Danny Masterson, . And actor Kevin Spacey was victorious at a sexual battery civil trial in New York last month.

Weinstein鈥檚 New York conviction survived an initial appeal, but the case is set to be heard by the state鈥檚 highest court next year. The California conviction, also likely to be appealed, means he will not walk free even if the East Coast conviction is thrown out.

鈥擜ndrew Dalton, The Associated Press





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