Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty In LA Rape Trial

A Los Angeles jury has found former Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein guilty of raping a woman.

During the two-month trial, it was revealed that Weinstein had enticed women into private meetings with him before abusing them.

When he is convicted, the 70-year-old Oscar winner could spend up to 24 years behind bars.

After being found guilty of rape and sexual assault at his first trial in New York two years ago, he has already started serving 23 years in prison.

Weinstein was found guilty on Monday of two counts of sexual assault and rape against an accuser who will only be identified as Jane Doe 1.

The jury was unable to reach a judgment about the accusations made by Jane Doe 2 and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom. On those counts, the court declared a mistrial.

He was also cleared of sexual battery against Jane Doe 3, one of his accusers.

The co-founder of the entertainment firm Miramax and producer of Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction appeared pale in a grey suit on Monday at the court in Los Angeles.

He was not in a wheelchair as he had done in earlier court appearances.

The former Hollywood producer looked down when he heard guilty on count one. He stared at his attorney as the court clerk read guilty on count two. He briefly fixed his gaze on the jury.

Over the course of more than four weeks, the trial heard testimony from hundreds of witnesses, many of it heartbreaking.

However, the focus of Monday's verdict was on claims made by four women between 2005 and 2013.

The jury, which consisted of eight men and four women, deliberated for nine days on three accusations of rape and four other counts of sexual assault.

Model Jane Doe 1 was born in Russia and was the victim of rape by Weinstein. He was found guilty of the crime on Monday.

The first trial witness testified that the producer unexpectedly entered her Beverly Hills hotel room and sexually assaulted her in February 2013, while she was in Los Angeles for an Italian film festival.

""Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back," she stated following the verdict,

"The criminal trial was brutal and Weinstein's lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to see this through to the end, and I did.

I hope Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime."

Ms. Siebel Newsom testified in an emotional manner about being raped by Weinstein in a hotel room in 2005 while working as a documentary filmmaker.

"Throughout the trial, Weinstein's lawyers used sexism, misogyny, and bullying tactics to intimidate, demean, and ridicule us survivors", California's first lady said in a statement on Monday following the judgment, "the trial served as a sobering reminder that our society still has work to do."

Lauren Young was the only other one of the four principal accusers to openly identify herself.

When she first approached Weinstein in 2013 to discuss a story, she claimed to be a model, aspiring actor, and screenwriter.

According to Ms. Young, he forced her into a hotel toilet and sexually assaulted her.

The jury was unable to render a verdict on the accusations against her.

In 2010, Weinstein trapped Jane Doe 3, a massage therapist, and sexually assaulted her in a hotel bathroom in 2010, according to testimony from Jane Doe 3. He was exonerated in that assault.

For the #MeToo movement, which had been denouncing pervasive sexual abuse and harassment in the film business for several years, his conviction in New York in 2020 was a landmark moment.

Weinstein is currently appealing the judgment from New York.

In recent years, more than 80 women have come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct and assault.