Harvey Weinstein Reacts to Rape Conviction: ‘I’m Innocent, I’m Innocent’
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Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was unavailable for comment on Monday afternoon, after being carted off to jail following a guilty verdict on two of five counts related to charges of rape and sexual assault in cases involving Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann, but one of his lawyers was on hand to provide the disgraced mogul’s thoughts on his conviction. Variety reports that Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala told assembled press that Weinstein was stunned by the rulings. “The words he said over and over again to me is, ‘I’m innocent, I’m innocent, I’m innocent. How could this happen in America?,'” Aidala said outside the lower Manhattan courtroom.
Weinstein was found guilty on Monday morning of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual acts in the first degree, but was acquitted of other charges leveled at him, including sexual predatory assault. The conviction in the cases of Haley and Mann could see the former movie mogul spending the rest of his life in prison, as each carries a maximum sentence of up to 25 years.
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Aidala reportedly also told Variety that Weinstein’s legal team is not surprised “at all” that their client was remanded into custody, even after Weinstein’s lead attorney, Donna Rotunno, “asked the judge to let Weinstein remain free on bond pending the sentencing. Rotunno said Weinstein takes a lot of medication and underwent ‘unsuccessful’ back surgery, which is why he needs a walker. For the first time, she also indicated that Weinstein’s vision is impaired.” Judge James Burke recommended transporting Weinstein to the medical infirmary, and Aidala told Variety that he hopes his client will be taken to Rikers Island, which has medical facilities. “The people at my office right now are working on that,” Aidala told reporters. He expected him to be moved to Rikers on Monday.
The verdict found him guilty of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley at his Soho apartment on July 10, 2006, while the third-degree rape charge involved his assault of aspiring actress Jessica Mann at a DoubleTree Hotel in New York on March 18, 2013. Weinstein will be sentenced on March 11. He’s facing five to 25 years for the criminal sexual assault conviction and 18 months to four years for the third-degree rape conviction.
Weinstein still faces a sexual misconduct trial in Los Angeles involving two women, one of whom — Lauren Marie Young — testified for the prosecution during the New York trial.
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