Harvey Weinstein: Disgraced movie mogul found guilty of rape at Los Angeles trial
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Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of rape at a Los Angeles trial after a jury deliberated for nine days before convicting him.
The former movie producer’s second criminal trial reached a conclusion on Monday as the jury of nine men and three women announced its verdict.
Weinstein, 70, faced two counts of forcible rape and five counts of sexual assault in Los Angeles, involving four women, going back from 2005 to 2013. He had pleaded not guilty.
He was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and a sexual misconduct charge involving a woman referred to in court as Jane Doe 1.
The jury was hung on several counts, notably charges involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The jury reported it was unable to reach verdicts in her allegations and the allegations of another woman. A mistrial was declared on those counts.
Ms Newsom, a documentary filmmaker, told the court she had been raped by Weinstein in a hotel room in 2005.
He was also acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by another woman.
The Los Angeles case followed Weinstein’s first criminal trial, which happened in New York in 2020. In February of that year, he was convicted of third-degree rape and a criminal sex act, and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Weinstein was extradited to California for the new proceedings.
Closing arguments for the LA case took place over 1 and 2 December.
Weinstein’s LA trial opened on 24 October and saw testimony from several women who alleged they were assaulted by him when he was a powerful Hollywood producer. Prosecutors argued that Weinstein used his status to lure and intimidate women he then attacked. The defense contended that Weinstein’s acts were part of a pattern of “transactional” behavior in the movie industry.
In August, New York’s highest court allowed Weinstein’s appeal in the state to go forward. It’s expected to continue at a later date.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press
