Harvey Weinstein Convicted of Rape in Los Angeles Trial

Former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who reported abuse of actresses and other women and sparked the #MeToo movement, was found guilty of rape and other sexual crimes by a jury in Los Angeles. rice field.

Monday’s ruling marks the second conviction of the 70-year-old former Miramax president who was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a New York jury convicted him of rape and sexual assault in 2020. To do. Several years in prison in California following the latest conviction.

Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said in the prosecution’s closing arguments, “It’s time for the defendant’s reign of terror to end,” according to media reports. “It’s time for the Kingmaker to be judged.”

Weinstein He was convicted of three counts of sexual assault, including the rape and forced oral copulation of an actress at the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival.

A jury was unable to reach a decision on charges involving California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom. A misdemeanor was declared.

Weinstein was also acquitted of allegations that he sexually assaulted a massage therapist who treated him at a hotel in 2010.

“Harvey Weinstein could never rape another woman,” Siebel Newsom said. statement“He will spend the rest of his life in his prison.”

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Weinstein and his independent Miramax Studios (which he ran with his brother Bob) rocked Hollywood with movies like: Shakespeare in love When pulp fiction. He changed the way Oscar campaigns were run and launched the careers of Gwyneth Paltrow and Quentin Tarantino.

However, his entertainment empire crumbled after The New York Times and The New Yorker reported in 2017, revealing his serial assaults on actresses and the use of confidentiality agreements to silence them. .

Weinstein’s conviction in New York was upheld after an initial appeal, but his case will be heard in the state’s Supreme Court next year.

Weinstein’s attorneys argued that two women lied about meeting Weinstein and that their encounters with the other two women were consensual.

“Regret is not the same as rape,” said Weinstein’s attorney, Alan Jackson, according to the Associated Press. Weinstein’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.