Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 16 years in prison over rape and sexual assault charges
Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault.
Last December, the disgraced movie producer was found guilty of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration of a foreign object in relation to an unnamed woman.
The 70-year-old is currently serving a 23-year jail term in New York for other sexual assault and rape charges, after a 2020 conviction.
In a hearing today, a judge in LA handed him 16 years behind bars.
Four women brought the current case against the 70-year-old, with five sexual assault charges – including two counts of forcible rape.
The accusers were aspiring models at the time, and claimed the encounters occurred between 2004 and 2013 in LA County.
They gave emotional testimonies in court, with Jane Doe 1 telling the jury that Weinstein allegedly showed up uninvited at her hotel room during a film festival in 2013, and assaulted her.
Although she hadn’t previously joined the dozens of women who had sued him for sexual harassment or assault, her testimony led to his second rape conviction.
The movie mogul was acquitted of one count of sexual battery, but the jury remained hung on one count of rape, one count of sexual battery by restraint and one count of forcible oral copulation.
Prosecutors originally called for the judge to hand him the maximum 24-year sentence, to run consecutively to his current term.
In closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said the ‘titan’ used his power to take advantage of women.
‘Rapists rape,’ fellow prosecutor Paul Thompson added. ‘You can look at the pattern.’
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