Harvey Weinstein Sentenced To 23 Years In Prison For Rape Conviction

Harvey Weinstein , 67, has been sentenced to 23 years behind bars following his rape conviction in late February.

Weinstein then spoke for the first time in his own defence.

Because the jury declined to convict him on the two most serious counts, which could have led to a life sentence, Weinstein had faced a maximum penalty of 29 years behind bars. 

Following his Feb. 24 conviction, the New York Department of Corrections transferred him to the city’s notorious Rikers Island compound after a hospital stay on Manhattan’s east side to address Weinstein’s health concerns. He underwent heart surgery last week and was subsequently moved to the medical wing at Rikers, which has the added benefit of offering more protection to high-profile inmates.

Weinstein’s defence team sent a letter to Judge James Burke on Monday requesting no more than five years’ prison time the minimum by highlighting its client’s long history of charity work and lack of prior criminal history. His poor health and age, the team argued, citing life expectancy data, meant that a longer sentence could amount to a “de facto life sentence.”

Prosecutors asked that Burke hand down a sentence “that reflects the seriousness” of Weinstein’s offences and his “total lack of remorse for the harm he has caused.”

In a March 6 letter, prosecutors outlined a whopping 36 additional accusations against Weinstein that were drawn from two years of investigation but not included as part of the trial. They said he began trapping women in order to assault them starting in the 1970s, when he allegedly told a female employee of his Buffalo-based music company that there was only one hotel room left during a business trip. In the middle of the night, the woman told prosecutors, she woke up to find Weinstein raping her.

Several of the women described feeling afraid for their lives and the lingering trauma of what they endured.

Watch: Weinstein allegedly once wrote “Jen Aniston should be killed,” court documents show. Story continues below.

Weinstein’s Hollywood career came to a crashing halt in October 2017, when bombshell articles in both The New Yorker and The New York Times detailed sexual abuse claims by several women, whose accusations led dozens of others to come forward.

On Tuesday, a trove of unsealed documents revealed Weinstein’s desperate attempts to shore up private support in the days after the initial reports, as he fought to maintain control of his production house, The Weinstein Company. He emailed the likes of Netflix ’s Ted Sarandos, Apple’s Tim Cook and Amazon ’s Jeff Bezos, among other powerful executives and industry players, writing to explain that he planned to seek therapy. 

One email showed the tension that had erupted between Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, who told him : “U deserve a lifetime achievement award for the sheer savagery and immorality and inhumanness, for the acts u have perpetrated. Oh I forgot. They were all consensual. Then what are u in rehab for? Sex addiction. Don’t think so.”

Harvey Weinstein’s trial was seen as a watershed moment for the Me Too movement, and his conviction a victory of sorts . 

His legal troubles are ongoing. Criminal charges similar to the ones Weinstein faced in New York are pending in Los Angeles, while U.S. federal prosecutors are pursuing sex trafficking charges against Weinstein. British authorities are continuing their investigation into him as well, as about a dozen civil lawsuits remain pending.