Nearly two and a half years after a New York Times exposé about him ushered in the #MeToo movement, Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of rape and will be sentenced to serve time in prison, potentially up to 25 years.
The trial, which was a long time coming, concluded in New York late last week. After five days of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women at the New York supreme court found the fallen mogul guilty of two counts: a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree. However, the jury also found Weinstein not guilty of the two strongest charges against him, the ones involving predatory sexual assault.
Six women, including Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra, testified at the trial that Weinstein had sexually assaulted them, to help establish a pattern of behavior beyond the two women who’d filed the criminal charges at the center of the trial. This outcome all but guarantees that more women will come forward with further accounts of Weinstein’s misconduct, now that the once-powerful figure has proven definitively vulnerable.
Up until as recently as last fall, the disgraced producer had enjoyed enough presumption of potential innocence to remain welcome in some fashionable Manhattan establishments. Now, as he is set to serve as-yet unspecified time in prison, perhaps that will change.
Weinstein also still faces charges in a separate upcoming rape trial in Los Angeles, which was announced on the first day of his trial in New York.
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