process
No mercy: Another 16 years in prison for Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein continues to plead not guilty and pleads for clemency. photo
© Etienne Laurent/EPA Pool/AP/dpa
Harvey Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for sex crimes. Now a court is adding another 16 years – and ignoring Weinstein’s pleas for clemency.
Already incarcerated former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to another long sentence for sex crimes. A Los Angeles court sentenced the 70-year-old to 16 years in prison on Thursday. Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence after a 2020 trial in New York for rape and sexual assault.
At the court hearing, several women recounted how Weinstein abused them. Weinstein himself appeared in gray prison garb and in a wheelchair. He defended himself shortly before sentencing and asked the court for “mercy”: “I insist that I am innocent.” Referring specifically to one of the women, Weinstein said he did not rape her. “Please don’t sentence me to life imprisonment. I don’t deserve that. So many things are wrong with this case.” Weinstein’s defense attorneys previously said they would appeal both the New York and Los Angeles verdicts.
Lots of comments on social media
Numerous people commented on the sentence on social media. “Love and light to all his victims,” wrote documentary filmmaker and daughter of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Christine Pelosi. “You deserve comfort and healing.”
At the Los Angeles trial in December, a jury convicted Weinstein of three counts of sex crimes, including rape. He was acquitted on one point, and there was no agreement on three other points. The allegations came from four women between 2004 and 2013. Among the plaintiffs was Jennifer Siebel, now the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Most of the attacks are believed to have taken place in Beverly Hills hotels. “Justice,” Siebel wrote on Twitter after the sentencing. “And more work ahead of us.”
Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in New York. The trial marked a milestone in legal history. The case had significantly triggered the #MeToo movement at the time. Since 2017, more than 80 women have publicly accused Weinstein of sexual assault.
From Hollywood mogul to convict
Weinstein, who was born into a wealthy family in the New York borough of Queens in 1952, was once a rich and powerful Hollywood mogul who, with his company, made successful films such as “The English Patient”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Good Will Hunting” or “Gangs of New York” and won an Oscar himself for “Shakespeare in Love”. Now he spends most of his time in a wheelchair due to health problems and could spend the rest of his life in prison.
A sentence was also announced in a similar case on Thursday: Ex-pop star R. Kelly (56), who is already in prison for sex crimes, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Chicago, according to US media reports. Unlike Weinstein’s case, however, the court ruled in Kelly’s case that he could serve most of his sentences concurrently. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year in New York for sexual abuse of minors, among other things.
“39 years for Harvey Weinstein. 30 years for R Kelly,” wrote US actress Ellen Barkin on Twitter. “The lesson: … stop raping women.”
Tweet by Barkin Tweet by Pelosi Tweet by Siebel