Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty In Rape Trial | HuffPost Latest News - Action News
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Posted: 2020-02-24T16:49:35Z | Updated: 2020-02-24T19:59:53Z

Former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein , whose many accusers spurred the Me Too era with their public allegations of rampant sexual misconduct against him, was found guilty Monday on two charges of sexual assault.

A jury affirmed after five days of deliberations that Weinstein forced a sexual act on former production assistant Miriam Mimi Haleyi in 2006, and that he raped the once-aspiring actor Jessica Mann in 2013.

However, the panel consisting of five women and seven men notably found him not guilty on the two most serious charges of predatory sexual assault, which would have carried a maximum penalty of life behind bars.

Weinstein, 67, will stay in jail until March 11, when he is scheduled to be sentenced. He is now facing up to 25 years for performing a criminal sexual act, and up to four years for rape in the third degree.

Weinsteins trial represented a milestone in the Me Too era, spanning six weeks of often emotional witness testimony and grueling cross-examination. The disgraced producer pleaded not guilty to five felony charges, stemming from the two incidents involving Haleyi and Mann.

Several other women also took the stand to demonstrate a pattern of misbehavior, with former Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra providing testimony to bolster the two most serious charges. She maintains that Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s. The jury, however, seemed divided on Sciorras assault and ultimately did not convict Weinstein on the two charges linked to her testimony.

In a statement, more than 20 of the at least 100 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, known as the silence breakers, noted the mixed outcome.

While it is disappointing that todays outcome does not deliver the true, full justice that so many women deserve, Harvey Weinstein will now forever be known as a convicted serial predator, they said. This conviction would not be possible without the testimony of the courageous women and the many women who have spoken out.

Due to the complicated nature of the charges against Weinstein, jurors required clarification on how to assess them shortly after convening to begin deliberations last Tuesday. On Wednesday, they appeared to home in on Haleyis and Sciorras accusations, asking to review materials and testimony.

By Friday, they were still deadlocked on the most serious charges.

Weinstein himself did not take the stand during the trial on advice from his attorneys, although he told reporters outside the courtroom that he would have liked to.

Since October 2017, when a pair of bombshell reports in The New York Times and The New Yorker detailed an array of disturbing accusations against the producer, more than 80 women actors Asia Argento, Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow and Lupita Nyongo among their ranks came forward accusing him of sexual abuse.

But statutes of limitations and other factors prevented the vast majority from pursuing legal action.