Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 16 additional years for LA rape conviction

Content warning: this article discusses rape and sexual assault.

Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 16 additional years in prison, three months after he was convicted on three counts of rape and sexual assault.

The disgraced film producer is currently serving a 23-year sentence for a 2020 conviction of two counts of rape and sexual assault in New York. With his new sentence, his remaining prison time has nearly doubled.

In December, Weinstein was found guilty on three counts of rape and sexual assault against  a European model and actor who testified anonymously as “Jane Doe #1”. He was acquitted, elsewhere in the trial, of assaulting another woman, a massage therapist, and failed to reach a verdict on whether he raped or assaulted two other women, including actor and film producer Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

During the sentencing on Thursday (February 23), which had been pushed back from last month, Jane Doe #1 wept in court as she described the impact of being assaulted by Weinstein in 2013.

“Ten years later, the effects of this rape are still raw and difficult to discuss. I have been carrying this weight, this trauma. This irrational belief that it was my fault,” she said. “There is no prison sentence long enough to undo the damage.” [via The Guardian]

The woman said that the way Weinstein had looked at her in the courtroom during the trial had shown her that he was “the exact same man who raped me all those years ago”, and that he had “ripped out my soul and has no regret”.

Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to all charges in both of his criminal trials and has consistently denied accusations of rape and sexual assault. In his own statement in court on Thursday, Weinstein said the case was “a set-up” called the woman he had been convicted of raping “an actress”  who can “turn the tears on” and the rape a “made-up story”.

“Please don’t sentence me to life in prison. I don’t deserve it,” Weinstein said.

Legal observers said that the defenses in the trial contained a significant degree of misogyny. Weinstein’s defense team had protested his innocence by attacking his accusers’ credibility and sexual behaviour, describing Siebel Newsom as “just another bimbo who slept with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead in Hollywood”.

His attorneys also used the trial as a referendum on the #MeToo movement, which surfaced in the aftermath of initial accusations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein back in 2017. “The truth is immutable. It’s not a feeling. It’s not a whim. It’s not a hashtag,” defense attorney Alan Jackson told jurors.

Elsewhere, defense attorney Mark Werksman pointed out that Weinstein was a 70 year old in bad health and said he had lost four teeth while in prison. He asked the judge to consider the good that Weinstein had done in his career.

“Please do not sentence the man who has become a caricature because of the #MeToo movement,” Werksman said.

Over 90 women have publicly accused Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in incidents that go back decades.

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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