Second Trial: Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty of Sexual Assault Against Accuser Jane Doe 1
A Los Angeles jury found former Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape. For decades, Weinstein has been the subject of allegations of sexual assault and wrongdoing from more than eighty women.
During the two-month trial, it was revealed that Weinstein would use his power to coerce women into meeting with him alone, where he would assault them.
The Oscar winner, now 70 years old, might spend the next 24 years behind bars. His first trial in New York occurred two years ago, and he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault. He is currently serving a sentence of 23 years in prison.
On Monday, a jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and two counts of sexual assault against an accuser identified only as "Jane Doe 1."
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, and a woman identified only as Jane Doe 2 presented conflicting accounts of events, and the jury was unable to reach a unanimous conviction on either count. These counts were declared a mistrial.
He was also found not guilty of sexually assaulting Jane Doe 3.
In court on Monday in Los Angeles, Harvey lowered his head when he heard the verdict on count one. He then turned to his attorney as the court clerk read "guilty" on count two. After a while, he turned and glanced directly at the panel of judges.
For more than four weeks, the trial heard from dozens of witnesses.
However, the judgment announced on Monday centered on claims made by four women between 2005 and 2013.
On three accusations of rape and four other counts of sexual assault, the jury of eight men and four women deliberated for nine days.
Model Jane Doe 1, for whom Weinstein was found guilty of rape on Monday, was originally from Russia.
As the first witness in the trial, she stated that the producer raped her in her Beverly Hills hotel room in February 2013. She had flown to Los Angeles to attend an Italian film festival.
After the judgment was read, she remarked, "That night in 2013, Harvey Weinstein destroyed a part of me, and I will never get that back."
"The criminal trial was brutal, and Weinstein's lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to see this through to the end, and I did.
Ms Siebel Newsom testified tearfully that she was working as a documentary filmmaker in 2005. Weinstein assaulted her in a hotel room.
On Monday, following the decision, California's first lady released a statement saying, "Throughout the trial, Weinstein's lawyers used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us survivors."
Lauren Young is the only other of the four primary accusers to come forward with her name.
When she met with Weinstein in 2013 to discuss a script, she claimed to be a model, aspiring actor, and screenwriter.
Ms Young claimed he sexually attacked her after locking her in a hotel toilet. No verdict was reached on the allegations against her because the jury deadlocked.
Jane Doe 3, a massage therapist who worked for Weinstein in 2010, claimed that he had sexually abused her in a hotel restroom after trapping her inside. However, he was exonerated of culpability for the assault.
The conviction of Harvey Weinstein in New York in 2020 was a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement, which had been protesting sexual misconduct in Hollywood for years.
Weinstein has filed an appeal of his conviction in New York.