Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced film industry magnate, was found guilty of rape in a California courtroom.
The 70-year-old predator was on trial in Los Angeles on charges of raping, sexually assaulting, and battery against two additional women, as well as two other counts of sexual battery.
He was found guilty of raping one lady by a jury, but not of sexual battery against another woman while in restraint.
A mistrial was announced on numerous counts when the jury was unable to reach decisions, including those concerning allegations made against Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, and another woman.
Weinstein was convicted guilty of rape, forced oral copulation, and sexual penetration by a foreign object involving the same woman who claimed he showed up unannounced at her hotel room in 2013 while a Los Angeles film festival was going on.
When the first guilty verdicts were delivered, Weinstein appeared to cover his face with his hands before turning to face the courtroom.
When he is sentenced, he might spend up to 24 years in prison.
“No other woman will ever be raped by Harvey Weinstein. He will live out the remainder of his days in prison, where he belongs “In a statement, Ms. Siebel Newsom stated.
“In order to frighten, degrade, and ridicule us survivors throughout the trial, Weinstein’s attorneys engaged in sexism, misogyny, and bullying behaviour. The trial served as a sobering reminder that our society still has work to do.”
Currently serving a 23-year sentence is a film producer.
The Oscar-winning film producer was found guilty in a landmark New York court case in 2020 that was viewed as a turning point for the #MeToo movement, and is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape and sexual abuse.
But he was given permission to appeal earlier this year.
As a result, the month-long LA trial, which was generally regarded as symbolic, gained more importance.
Weinstein’s “reign of terror” needed to come to an end, according to the prosecution, who urged the jury in their final argument.
The four ladies, in turn, had been deemed unreliable by his attorney.
The allegations that Weinstein sexually attacked two women on separate days in 2013 “simply never happened,” according to Alan Jackson.
He added that the two other women’s claimed interactions with Weinstein in 2005 and 2010 were “100% consensual” encounters that they had for professional gain.
The #MeToo movement’s inception
With roles in Shakespeare in Love, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, and Gangs of New York, Weinstein was once one of Hollywood’s most significant personalities and had the ability to make or break acting careers.
But he was accused of sexual assault by a number of women in October 2017, according to articles in the New York Times and the New Yorker. He was also charged with making agreements to suppress the rumours.
Numerous additional women came forward in the months that followed to claim Weinstein was responsible for decades-old rape, sexual assault, and harassment episodes.
He acknowledged that his actions had “caused a lot of anguish,” but he vehemently disputed every sexual accusation levelled against him.
Women came forward to describe incidences involving influential personalities in the entertainment business and beyond, sparking the #MeToo movement.
She Said, starring Carey Mulligan, is based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning Weinstein exposé by New York Times reporters.