LOS ANGELES — Harvey Weinstein, once a movie giant wielding enormous power in Hollywood, was found guilty on Monday of raping and sexually assaulting an actress in 2013, but jurors The officer declared he was not guilty of one count and could not decide on three other charges.
The verdict, handed down by jurors in Los Angeles, is the second sex crime conviction for 70-year-old Weinstein, who was convicted of sexual assault and rape in New York nearly three years ago. It served as a backstop to keep Mr Weinstein in jail, as New York’s highest court agreed to review his sentence there.
One a series of accusations in 2017 against the film producer who formerly fueled the #MeToo movement into a global phenomenon, holding powerful men in the entertainment industry and government accountable for sexual misconduct. for decades, while also inciting a worldwide uprising of women sharing their own experiences of sexual harassment and assault.
Due to some complex dynamics of the verdict and the state’s sentencing law, Mr. Weinstein faces the possibility of 18 to 24 years in prison in California — not the maximum of life. He will serve his sentence during that time after serving his prison term in New York, where he still has 21 years in prison unless his appeal is successful.
Mr. Weinstein faces seven counts in Los Angeles – two counts of rape and five counts of sexual assault – stemming from cases involving four women between 2004 and 2013. jurors weighed over nine days, and the length of their discussion reflects the difficulty they have had in reaching consensus on some of the charges. They agreed that Mr Weinstein was guilty of three counts – rape, forced oral sex and sexual penetration – in relation to an Italian actress, who testified that he assaulted her during hotel rooms in 2013.
They also acquitted Mr Weinstein of one count of sexual abuse involving a massage therapist.
But jurors could not decide on two charges related to the accusations of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and wife of Governor Gavin Newsom of California, nor could they agree on one count. originates from Lauren Young, a model and screenwriter who said she was assaulted by Mr. Weinstein in his hotel room.
The courtroom, dominated by lawyers and reporters, fell silent as the clerk read out the complex verdict. At one point, a cell phone rang and Mr Weinstein looked around the gallery for the source. He slumped slightly in his chair when he heard the guilty verdict on the first three counts, and he showed no apparent reaction to the other four.
Prosecutors will now have to decide whether to retry the three counts on which the jury was deadlocked. Gloria Allred, Ms. Young’s attorney, said after the ruling that her client “commits 100% to testifying again if she is asked to do so.”
Siebel Newsom said after the verdict that she was confident Mr Weinstein would never be released.
“He will spend the rest of his life behind bars where he belongs,” she said in a statement. “Harvey Weinstein is a serial predator and what he does is rape.”
The mixed verdict comes after weeks of tearful testimonies, often in pictures, by the four accusers and by four other women, who are authorized by state law to testify about similar experiences they have had. said they had with Mr. Weinstein to establish a behavioral pattern. The fifth accuser dropped the case.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys made their final arguments more than two weeks ago. Days passed without a verdict, growing frustration among those who had hoped Mr Weinstein would be sentenced shortly. During the course of the deliberations, the jurors asked a question and asked to read the testimony again, but the specifics of their questions were denied by Judge Lisa B. Lench of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Angeles withheld in a rare move to withhold information about the courtroom from the public.
In their testimony, women describe behavior that many have become accustomed to in the past five years since The Times reported on Weinstein’s conduct.
Prosecutors told the jury that Mr Weinstein was a serial predator with a sophisticated strategy for hunting vulnerable women. In her final argument, Marlene Martinez, deputy district attorney, presented an image of an oncoming wolf and a menacing metal trap.
“There is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein is a predator,” she said. “And, like all predators, he has a method.”
Weinstein, a “giant” of the film industry, would first show an interest in a younger woman’s career, she said. He would then arrange to meet the woman under the guise of helping her professionally. Prosecutors said Mr Weinstein often insisted that the woman meet in his apartment, where he would isolate and physically assault her.
“Contained within those walls, the victims were unable to escape his massive mass,” she said.
Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers have sought to portray his accusers as opportunists who engaged in consensual sex with the film producer as a way to try to advance in Hollywood; The lawyers said it was only later, embarrassed by the confrontations caused by a major shift in the industry, that they said they had been harmed.
In his final argument for the defense, a lawyer, Alan Jackson, said the case depends on whether jurors trust the women.
Mr. Jackson said: “‘Trust me’ – five words summarizing the entire case of the prosecution. “Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.”
He acknowledges the emotional distress of the accusers is real, but says it is the result of hindsight, not the reality of their experience with the sex-dealing nature of Hollywood.
“I don’t know how to put it milder than this, but anger doesn’t do the truth,” he said. “Tears do not make the truth.”
It signifies something different from the defense’s tone earlier in the trial. During cross-examination, attorneys actively questioned the women about discrepancies in their accounts.
Weinstein’s other attorney, Mark Werksman, did not hesitate to use blunt, even insulting language when describing the accusers.
At one point, he said Miss Siebel Newsom was “just another chipmunk who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead,” elicited gasps.
Siebel Newsom said she was raped by Mr Weinstein in 2005 in a Beverly Hills hotel room after meeting with him to discuss her career. She said she tried to ignore the incident for years as “a way to put aside my sadness, my fear, my hurt, so I could move on with my life.”
Her two days of testimony drew the largest crowd in the months-long trial in downtown Los Angeles court. Governor Newsom was in the building when his wife showed up but was not in the courtroom.
In her statement after the ruling, Siebel Newsom criticized the defense attorneys’ approach to the case.
“Throughout the trial, Weinstein’s attorneys used sexist, misogynist and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean and mock survivors like us,” she said. “This test is a stark reminder that we as a society have much to do. To all the survivors out there – I see you, I hear you and I stand with you.”
Prosecutors and Weinstein’s defense team walked briskly out of the courtroom, past reporters. Paul Thompson, deputy district attorney, declined to comment because the case is still open; The attorneys are expected to return on Tuesday for further arguments regarding the special findings on a number of charges.
George Gascón, district attorney for Los Angeles County, in a statement praised the women who testified for their “extraordinary bravery” and said he hoped the partial rulings would “at least bring some measure of justice to the victims.”
However, he expressed disappointment in the results. “They deserve better than what the system has given them,” he said of the women.
#MeToo advocates had hoped for another sentencing against Mr Weinstein, in part to give greater confidence to women who, they say, have long been rejected by a power structure dropped their claim to silence. While the allegations against Mr Weinstein have accelerated its growth, the #MeToo movement was originally founded by Tarana Burke in 2006 to seek healing for sexually abused Black women. .
Attorneys representing other sex abuse victims say that although the jury has not yet reached a decision on three of the seven counts, any guilty verdict against Mr Weinstein is significant. important meaning.
Michelle Simpson Tuegel, an attorney representing sexual abuse victims, said: “Hung’s juries can be very complex. The guilty verdict “shows that the defense’s outdated strategy of blaming and shaming the victims can be counterproductive in the post-#MeToo era,” she added.
Supporters said before the trial that the future of the movement does not depend on any legal battles. While the results of celebrity tests are closely watched – such as legal battle between actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp hit the internet this spring — like a barometer, advocates point to the deeper structural changes #MeToo has inspired.
“#MeToo as a movement and true inspiration has never belonged to a single individual,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and chief executive officer of the National Women’s Law Center. “This movement didn’t start and end with him.”
Brook Barnes and Jonah E. Bromwich contribution report.
