By our Correspondent
Before receiving an additional 16 years in prison for rape in a Los Angeles court, former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein pleaded for mercy.
During a city-wide film festival in February 2013, he was found guilty of assaulting an actress in a hotel room.
The disgraced Hollywood star pleaded with the judge not to give him a life sentence. I don’t deserve it. “.
Since the late 1970s, more than 80 individuals have accused Weinstein of engaging in misconduct and rape.
The 70-year-old is already serving a 23-year prison term for a different New York conviction.
Prior to being sentenced on Thursday, Weinstein insisted he was not guilty and had been the victim of a “set-up”.
A Los Angeles jury found him guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault involving an actress on December 19.
Prior to the sentence being read in court, the victim, who has been given the name Jane Doe 1 to protect her identity, took the stand.
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She described the pain she had felt ever since the assault for “many years.”.
I was a very content and self-assured woman before that night, she reflected.
“After the defendant brutally assaulted me, everything changed. There isn’t a prison term long enough to repair the harm. “.
Meanwhile, Weinstein claimed he was unaware of the victim and informed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench of this.
He declared, “I never committed a rape or sexual assault against Jane Doe 1.”.
He argued before the court that the case had “so many things wrong” and “so many loopholes.”.
An “actress with the ability to turn on her tears,” according to Weinstein, was his accuser.
His attorneys asked the judge to consider Weinstein’s declining health, his children, and his “generous” charitable contributions. They had asked for a three-year sentence for Weinstein.
After the judge denied the defense attorney’s request for a new trial, Weinstein spent the majority of the time in court looking away and remained silent when the sentence was read.
At the same sexual battery trial in Los Angeles where another accuser stood trial, he was found not guilty.
Three additional sexual assault counts, including one involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, were left unresolved by the jury. The judge declared there to be a mistrial.
He is rumored to be planning an appeal against the verdict.
In the Los Angeles case, the Oscar-winning film producer was facing a maximum sentence of 18 years in prison.
After a jury was unable to decide whether Weinstein had planned the rape or whether the victim was “particularly vulnerable,” he avoided a sentence of up to 24 years.
The development of the Weinstein scandal.
Weinstein received a 23-year prison term in 2020 for sexually assaulting and raping a production assistant in 2006 and a would-be actress in 2013. He’s made an appeal.
The MeToo movement, which had raised awareness of the pervasive sexual abuse and harassment in the film and television industry, was seen as having reached a turning point with the conviction.
