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| Harvey Weinstein Photo: David Shankbone |
Harvey Weinstein was been found guilty of rape in a Los Angeles Court on Monday. The case followed his conviction in New York in 2020, where he received a sentence of 23 years. Under Californian law, the 70-year-old former producer could receive a life sentence.
Weinstein initially faced 11 separate charges in the Los Angeles case, but prosecutors revealed in early November that they were unable to proceed with four of those. The Miramax mogul's lawyers argued that two of the incidents to which charges referred were complete fabrications and that the others had been consensual, with the women motivated by the potential to advance their careers. The jury found him guilty on one count of rape and on two additional sexual assault charges, but found him not guilty of raping another woman and were unable to reach verdicts where two further complainants were concerned.
The five week trial saw some harrowing testimony delivered by women who said that they felt intimidated and unable to stand up to Weinstein because of his physical size and the ease with which they felt that he could destroy their careers. His lawyers attacked the testimony of one complainant on the basis that she continued to work with Weinstein after an initial assault, and went on to be assaulted by him again on further occasions. Rape prevention organisations, however, have long argued that this kind of behaviour is not unusual, and that everyone responds differently to trauma.
Weinstein has been granted leave to challenge the New York verdict in that state's Court of Appeal, following a ruling by a lower appeal court which upheld the original judge's decision.
