Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison on March 11, two weeks after being found guilty of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual assault in the first degree. The disgraced Hollywood producer, 67, looked utterly shocked as the judge read the decision to the court. Prior to the decision, he told the court that he was “totally confused” by the guilty verdict. “I think men are confused about all of this… this feeling of thousands of men and women who are losing due process, I’m worried about this country,” Weinstein said, according to our sister site Variety. Weinstein is also required to register as a sex offender. He was silent as the two victims, Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann gave their impact statements; he apologized when they were done, saying he had “deep remorse” — but stressed that he thought the women were his friends. Weinstein will also have to formally register as a sex offender as part of the sentencing.
Weinstein, once one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, faced a sentence of between five and 29 years for the two felony sex crimes. After the jury announced its verdict during his February 24 trial, he appeared unmoved, according to reporters in the courtroom. “But I’m innocent,” he repeated three times to his lawyers. Weinstein, who produced films like Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love, was remanded to New York’s Rikers Island prison immediately after the trial concluded, but after complaining of chest pains, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital instead. He underwent surgery to remove a blockage from his heart and remained at Bellevue until March 5, when he was transferred to Rikers’ infirmary unit.
Ninety women, many of them celebrities, accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault. Six women testified against him in his New York trial, but the indictment was connected to just two of them: Haley, a former TV production assistant who testified that Weinstein orally rapped her at his Manhattan apartment in 2006, and Mann, a former aspiring actress who said he raped her in his Midtown Manhattan hotel room in 2013.
Weinstein is still facing separate charges in Los Angeles after two unidentified women accused him of attacking them one day apart in February 2013. One of the women, named as an Italian model and actress, told prosecutors that Weinstein allegedly raped her in the bathroom of a Beverly Hills hotel. The other woman said Weinstein allegedly trapped her in a West Los Angeles hotel bathroom, grabbed her breasts, and masturbated. A trial date has not been set.
