Disgraced Film Producer Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty of Rape
Image courtesy of www.cnn.com
By HUBERT KING ‘21
On Monday, February 24, 2020, Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape on the third degree and a criminal sexual act. He now faces up to twenty-five years in prison. This conviction comes after years of accusations against Weinstein, a famed movie producer and co-founder of both the production company, Miramax, and the film studio, The Weinstein Company. Though he was found not guilty for three other charges, including predatory sexual assault (which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison) this decision is monumental for the victims and the #MeToo movement.
According to the New York Times, accusations against the now-disgraced Weinstein first came in 2017. In total, over eighty women accused Weinstein of a pattern of sexual abuse that spanned more than thirty years, including eighteen cases of rape. These accusers included Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Eva Green, and many more prominent actresses. Weinstein has maintained his innocence from the beginning, stating that all sexual acts were consensual and that sexual favors for advancement are an inherent facet of the Hollywood film industry. Regardless, The Weinstein Company and other professional associations expelled him, and he was forced to retire from the public eye. Soon after, the New York Police Department, London’s Metropolitan Police Service, and the Los Angeles Police Department opened investigations on Weinstein. On May 25, 2018, the NYPD’s investigation led to a charge of "rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women.” However, the trial was delayed until January 6, 2020.
During the trial, the jury heard three weeks of testimony, including six accusers: Mimi Haleyi, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, and three other support witnesses. In total, the prosecution presented twenty-eight witnesses, and the defense brought seven, including friends of the accusers. The jury started deliberating on February 18, 2020. According to the Washington Post, prosecuting attorney Gloria Allred said that “women will not be silenced” and that her clients are “heroes for the women’s movement.” In a tense encounter with the press outside the courthouse, Weinstein’s attorney, Donna Rotunno, said: “[Weinstein is] mentally tough and we’re going to fight.” After the reading of the verdict, Weinstein remarked, “I’m innocent. How can this happen in America?”
Weinstein, who is sixty-seven years of age, is expected to appeal his conviction, as he continues to maintain his innocence. The sentencing is set for March 11, at which point Weinstein will likely be sent to Rikers Island, the notoriously dangerous New York Jail wherein scandals of abuse and mismanagement of inmates have risen. Weinstein’s health condition is steadily deteriorating; according to his attorney, Weinstein sees five doctors who help him with an unsuccessful back operation and vision problems. In light of this, Justice James Burke recommended Weinstein’s placement into a medical unit, away from the general population.
For the accusers, Monday marked the first successful legal response in the case and marked an essential step on the path to recovery. After the verdict, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. remarked that “rape is rape, whether a survivor reports within an hour, within a year or, perhaps, never… this is the new landscape for survivors of sexual assault.” Other legal teams in Los Angeles and in London can now point to this conviction as evidence of a pattern of Weinstein’s abuse. Tamara Burke, the creator of the #MeToo Movement, said in a statement that the case “reminds us that sexual violence thrives on unchecked power and privilege. The implications reverberate far beyond Hollywood and into the daily lives of all of us in the rest of the world.”