Weinstein guilty
HARVEY WEINSTEIN’S accusers were celebrating a “new era of justice” last night after the disgraced film producer was found guilty of rape in a watershed trial for the Metoo movement. The 67-year-old, pictured above yesterday, was handcuffed and led out of court straight to jail having been found guilty of third-degree rape and a criminal sex act.
He was cleared of the most serious charge, predatory sex assault.
“I’m innocent, I’m innocent!” he told his lawyer, Arthur Aidala. Mr Aidala said that Weinstein turned to him inside court and asked: “How could this happen in America?”
Ashley Judd, one of the first actresses to come forward and publicly accuse Weinstein, praised the victims in the case: “For the women who testified in this case and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere, thank you.”
Rose Mcgowan, another of the early accusers, added: “Today is a powerful day and a huge step forward in our collective healing.”
Weinstein was last night taken to Rikers Island, the infamous prison off the coast of Manhattan, after seven men and five women of the jury spent five days considering their verdict, having heard three weeks of evidence.
The decision was read out by the foreman of the jury, wearing a black shirt and yellow bow tie. They found Weinstein not guilty of three of the
five charges. But they did find him guilty of forcibly performing oral sex on Miss Haley in 2006, and of raping Miss Mann in 2013. The packed courtroom in Lower Manhattan fell silent and Weinstein showed no emotion.
Mr Aidala said the producer, once the shock subsided, was “fine”, adding: “He’s very stoic, and powerful.”
Three burly guards handcuffed the former Hollywood titan and led him out of court, with Weinstein – who has back problems and has been using a Zimmer frame – leaning on the officials.
The trial saw some graphic details of mounting accusations against Weinstein made public for the first time.
After the verdict Rosanna Arquette, the actress who, like Mcgowan, had protested outside court on Jan 6, the trial’s opening day, said: “Gratitude to the brave women who’ve testified and to the jury for seeing through the dirty tactics of the defence. We will change the laws so that rape victims are heard and not discredited and so that it’s easier for people to report their rapes.”
The sentiment was echoed by Cyrus Vance Jr, the New York County district attorney, who hailed a “new day” for survivors of sexual assault.
Weinstein, he said, was “a vicious, serial sexual predator who used his power to threaten, rape, assault, trick, humiliate, and silence his victims”.
He paid tribute to the six women who testified against Weinstein, and the two who prosecuted him. Mr Vance noted the two accusers – Jessica Mann and Mimi Haley – both stayed in contact with Weinstein after the attacks, but commended the jury for being able to see past that “complication”, saying it marked a new era in sexual assault and rape trials.
“These are the eight women who changed the course of history in the fight against sexual violence,” he said.
“These are eight women who pulled our justice system into the 21st century by declaring rape is rape, and sexual assault is sexual assault, no matter what.
He added: “This is the new landscape for survivors of sexual assault in America. This is a new day.”
Referring to the rigorous cross-examination of victims, Mr Vance said the trial would mark an end to “these kinds of attacks”, that put the blame on the accusers in the courtroom.
Tina Tchen, the lawyer who started Time’s Up, the movement against sexual harassment founded in response to Metoo, said: “This trial and the jury’s decision marks a new era of justice.”
Ambra Battilana Gutiérrez, another of Weinstein’s accusers, said the verdict was “like getting back all these years I lost”. Weinstein, 67, now faces the prospect of seeing out the rest of his days behind bars. He will be sentenced on March 11, and could be sent away for 25 years.
Weinstein’s New York lawyers promised to appeal. Donna Rotunno, his lead lawyer, said: “He knows this is not over. He knows we will continue to fight for him.”
But now prosecutors in Los Angeles are considering bringing him to trial to face charges of rape in a case that could include a more expansive group of witnesses and lead to greater sentencing.