Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of sexual assault by a New York jury and ordered to be held in custody, but acquitted of the most serious charges.
Harvey Weinstein enters a Manhattan court house as a jury continues with deliberations in his trial on 24 February 2020. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
Weinstein, 67, was convicted of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann, a onetime aspiring actress, in 2013.
Justice James Burke ordered Weinstein to be held in custody and he was put in handcuffs by officers in court.
He faces up to 25 years in prison on the sexual assault conviction.
The jury acquitted Weinstein on two counts of predatory sexual assault, which carried a potential life sentence, and first degree rape of Mann. A conviction on predatory sexual assault would have meant the jury had concluded he was a repeat sexual offender.
He was convicted of third degree rape which carries a sentence of up to four years in prison.
He still faces charges in Los Angeles of assaulting two women in 2013.
After the verdict was announced, he was reportedly taken to New York's Bellevue Hospital suffering from chest pains. He was due to be moved to prison on Riker's Island to await sentencing on 11 March.
During the weeks-long trial Haleyi testified that Weinstein invited her to his Manhattan home in 2006 and then backed her into a bedroom and forcibly performed oral sex on her.
Mann said that soon after meeting Weinstein she began an "extremely degrading" relationship with him that never included intercourse until, she alleged, he raped her in March 2013.
Another accuser, Annabella Sciorra, best known for her role in HBO's "The Sopranos," testified that Weinstein came to her New York apartment one winter night in 1993 or 1994, raped her and then forced oral sex on her.
That accusation is too old to be charged as a separate crime, but was introduced by prosecutors as an aggravating factor for the predatory sexual assault charges.
Three other women - costume designer Dawn Dunning, model Tarale Wulff and actress Lauren Young - testified that they were enticed into meeting Weinstein for professional reasons and then groped or raped.
Testimony of "prior bad acts" is generally not allowed in criminal trials, but an exception to the law allowed prosecutors to call these women to show Weinstein had a particular intention or a signature pattern of behaviour.
Legal experts said the women provided powerful evidence that was difficult for the defence to overcome.
Jessica Mann arrives for the trial in January. Photo: AFP
Since 2017, more than 80 women, including famous actresses, had accused him of sexual misconduct stretching back decades. He had denied the allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
The allegations fueled the #MeToo movement, in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein still faces sexual assault charges in California, which were announced just hours after his New York rape trial began, and dozens of women have filed civil lawsuits against him.
During his trial, Weinstein often appeared feeble, entering the courthouse using a walker. He sometimes leaned on his lead attorney, Donna Rotunno, for support.
"He's taken some good acting tips," actress Rose McGowan said at the start of the trial on 6 January while staging a protest near the courthouse along with actress Rosanna Arquette and other Weinstein accusers. Weinstein said he had back injuries.
Prosecutors during the trial portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who had manipulated women with promises to open doors in Hollywood, coaxing them to hotel rooms or private apartments and then overpowering and violently attacking them.
"The man seated right there was not just a titan in Hollywood, he was a rapist," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast said during opening arguments.
Seated at the defence table, Weinstein often appeared impassive, though at times he looked intently at his attorneys when they cross-examined his accusers.
Former production assistant Mimi Haleyi testified in the trial. Photo: 2017 Getty Images
Throughout the case, the defence said regret drove the accusers to take consensual incidents and reframe them as crimes.
Weinstein's lawyers zeroed in on friendly messages and ongoing contact between the women and Weinstein.
During cross-examination of Haleyi, for example, the defence showed her a message she sent Weinstein signed "lots of love" after her alleged attack.
Defence lawyers repeatedly suggested that Mann willingly had sex with Weinstein to advance her career.
Weinstein never testified in his defence, although he told reporters he had wanted to. One of his lawyers said the case was too weak to warrant putting him on the stand.
Weinstein's lawyer Rotunno told jurors during closing arguments that they were "the last line of defence" against an "overzealous" prosecution and that women were "responsible" for the "choices they make to further their own careers."
Prosecutors pushed back against claims that his accusers were not credible and the notion that they were responsible for the alleged attacks.
Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi said it was irrelevant whether they had ongoing contact with Weinstein after the alleged attacks.
Illuzzi rejected a defence claim that Mann had a loving relationship with Weinstein, but said it would not matter if she had been "head over heels in love with him."
"He still wouldn't be allowed to rape her on March 18 of 2013," she said.
Elizabeth L. Jeglic, a Professor of Psychology at John Jay College in New York said, "I think this verdict is definitely a vindication of all the women who have come forward and not been able to get a prosecution."
Paul Callan, a former New York prosecutor who is not involved in the case, said Weinstein had strong grounds to argue the verdict should be overturned on appeal because of bias, noting that one of the jurors was the author of a forthcoming book on teenage girls and "predatory" older men.
- Reuters
