LOS ANGELES, Feb 23 (Portal) – Harvey Weinstein, the one-time Hollywood titan who came to epitomize a culture of pervasive sexual misconduct by powerful men who ignited the #MeToo movement, was turned 16 on Thursday over the 2013 rape Actress sentenced to years in prison in Los Angeles.
The sentence, which follows the 23-year sentence Weinstein, 70, is already serving for a sexual misconduct conviction in New York, made it all the more likely that the Oscar-winning ex-producer will spend the rest of his life incarcerated .
Weinstein, who was in a wheelchair in a brown prison robe, pleaded his innocence and begged the judge, “I beg your mercy,” just before she announced his sentence. The two-hour trial took place in the same Los Angeles courtroom where a jury found Weinstein guilty in December of rape, violent oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object.
The charges stemmed from an assault on a former model and former actress, identified in court as Jane Doe 1, at a Los Angeles hotel in February 2013.
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In tears and a trembling voice, the woman addressed the court near the end of Thursday’s hearing, saying she was a “very happy and confident woman” until Weinstein raped her. Then: “I lost my identity. I was sure that no one could love me. I was heartbroken, empty and alone,” she added, choking back a sob.
The 16-year sentence handed down by Supreme Court Justice Lisa Lench was lighter than the maximum sentence of 24 years recommended by prosecutors, but far more severe than what Weinstein’s attorneys were seeking.
Defense attorney Mark Werksman asked Weinstein not to get more than three years for each of the three counts on which he was convicted to be served at the same time, arguing the charges stemmed from “an ongoing sexual assault” committed in ” a ‘frenzied’ 10 to 15 minute ordeal’ rather than three separate criminal acts.
It was a rare admission of guilt from defense attorneys in the courtroom, though Weinstein himself continued to deny any wrongdoing.
In his testimony in court, Weinstein insisted that he did not know Jane Doe 1 and argued that she invented her account for money.
“It’s a made-up story. Jane Doe 1 is an actress. She can induce tears,” Weinstein told the judge. “Please do not sentence me to life imprisonment.”
The defense also asked the judge to consider Weinstein’s age and declining health, including coronary artery disease and serious spinal problems.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on October 04, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, United States. Harvey Weinstein was extradited from New York to Los Angeles to face sexual charges. Etienne Laurent/Pool via Portal/
CASE OF HOLLYWOOD MERCY
It marked the latest low in a notable fall from grace for the co-founder of Miramax Films, the hugely successful US film production and distribution house that produced such films as ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’. Weinstein won an Oscar in 1999 for producing Shakespeare in Love, that year’s Academy Award winner for best picture.
The mounting allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein helped fuel the #MeToo movement, which has encouraged women to speak out about sexual harassment and abuse by powerful men in the media, politics and other ventures. The movement, which went viral on social media in 2017, seeks to break a culture of silence that has long allowed such behavior to go unchallenged.
Weinstein said all of his sexual encounters were consensual.
Dave Ring, an attorney for Jane Doe 1, said Thursday’s sentencing brought his client “closure and relief knowing that Weinstein will spend the rest of his life in prison where he belongs.”
The Los Angeles jury acquitted Weinstein of the charges of a second alleged victim and failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the charges of two other accusers.
One of them, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, now the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, had revealed that she was the alleged rape victim identified in court records as Jane Doe 4.
Lench has declared a mistrial on the deadlocked charges, and the Los Angeles County Attorney’s Office has yet to decide whether to attempt to try Weinstein again on those charges.
Defense attorneys argued that the women willingly had sex with Weinstein because they believed he would advance their careers, which they say was part of a widespread “casting couch” culture in the film industry. In two of the cases, they said the alleged sexual contact was fabricated.
Before sentencing, the judge denied a defense motion to vacate Weinstein’s conviction and grant him a new trial.
Weinstein was found guilty of sexual misconduct in New York in February 2020 and is appealing the conviction and sentence in New York. He was extradited from New York to California in July 2021 to face trial in Los Angeles.
Reporting by Steve Gorman; writing by Lisa Richwine; Edited by William Mallard and Aurora Ellis
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