Prosecutors won't retry Weinstein in sex assault case

LOS ANGELES ❯❯ Los Angeles County prosecutors announced Tuesday they will not retry disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein on a series of sex-related charges on which jurors were unable to reach a verdict last year.

Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench granted the defense's motion to dismiss the remaining charges against Weinstein — who was sentenced in February to 16 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a model-actress in a Los Angeles hotel room — after Deputy District Attorney

Paul Thompson said the prosecution was unable to proceed with the case.

Thompson called it a “difficult decision,” saying that prosecutors had wanted to seek justice for all of the alleged victims.

One of Weinstein's attorneys, Jacqueline Sparagna, said her client maintains his innocence — as he had during his sentencing last month. She said outside court that he is looking forward to his appeal.

Jurors convicted the 70-year-old defendant in December of charges involving a woman identified only as Jane Doe No. 1, but deadlocked on a charge of sexual battery by restraint involving an alleged attack in February 2013 against Jane Doe No. 2 and one count each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation involving an alleged attack in 2005 on Jane Doe No. 4 — the latter of whom has been publicly identified by her attorney as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Jane Doe No. 2, who subsequently identified herself as Lauren Young, told the judge Tuesday that she was “very disappointed” with the prosecution's decision.

“As you know, 10 members of the jury voted to convict the defendant on that charge, and two did not,” Young said. “I really wanted the prosecutor to retry the case and I asked him to do that because for 10 years I have done everything possible to seek justice for what the defendant did to me. … I believed in our system of justice and I hoped that I would obtain justice if I testified truthfully, which I did. Unfortunately, I have not achieved the justice that I had hoped to obtain.”

In a statement read in court on her behalf, Siebel Newsom wrote that the “physical and emotional trauma from being raped by Harvey Weinstein is deep and lasting, affecting every area of my life to this day.”

The governor's wife wrote that it “took years of therapy and reflection for me to discover my voice again” and that her body tenses and locks up “every time I am triggered and flooded with memories of being trapped and assaulted.”

“I would like to thank the court for imposing a 16-year sentence on Weinstein, adding on to the 23 years he is already serving in New York. He tried to ruin my life and the lives of so many other women; he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Siebel Newsom said in her statement.

The judge said she understands that the alleged victims are disappointed and noted that she believes Weinstein will be sent back to New York, where he is serving a 23-year prison sentence for his convictions for sexually assaulting two women in that state. Weinstein's sentence in Los Angeles will be served consecutively to his sentence in the New York case.

During his sentencing hearing last month, Weinstein again maintained his innocence, saying he was the victim of a “set-up.”

“I never knew this woman, and the fact is she doesn't know me,” he said then. “This is about money.”

Weinstein accused Jane Doe No. 1 of perjuring herself.

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