Former American film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced on Thursday to 16 years in prison in Los Angeles for raping and sexually harassing an Italian model at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2013.
Weinstein, 70, is already serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted in New York in 2020 on similar charges, from which he has filed an appeal.
The ex-producer’s defense has also appealed against the guilty verdict handed down on Thursday in Los Angeles, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
“I maintain that I am innocent. I never raped or sexually abused Jane Doe 1,” Weinstein said, referring to the Italian model who wept in court as the former producer spoke.
This woman, identified only as Jane Doe 1, told the court how the crime changed her life: “I was excited about my future. Everything changed after the defendant brutally attacked me. There is no jail time long enough to repair the damage.”
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench handed down the verdict Thursday after she denied a motion by Weinstein’s lawyers for a new trial.
On December 19, 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape and two sexual assaults, nearly half of the charges he was sued by four women, at the conclusion of his trial in Los Angeles.
However, the jury found him not guilty on the charges of the second woman and did not return a verdict on the charges of the other two.
Weinstein, who produced award-winning hits like Pulp Fiction (1994) or The Artist (2011), was already sentenced in New York in 2020 to 23 years in prison for similar acts.
The downfall of this movie star in 2017 freed the voices of many women and spawned the #MeToo movement.
In this second trial, four women testified anonymously against Weinstein.
The former producer’s defense sought to cast doubt on the claims of the four plaintiffs, highlighting in particular the lack of forensic evidence to support their claims.
After the former producer was convicted in a criminal case, the model, who was recognized as a victim in the trial, filed a complaint in Los Angeles court in early February for civil compensation, although the amount of the claim was not specified.
In 2021, the settlement awarded $17 million (about €16 million) to several dozen women who accused the former producer, but this woman was not one of them.
Rumors about Weinstein’s behavior have been circulating in Hollywood for years, and the scandal finally “erupted” in 2017 thanks to press investigations that resulted in several allegations.
Since then, nearly 90 women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette, have accused Harvey Weinstein of harassment, sexual assault or rape.
In addition to being prosecuted in the US, the former producer has also been accused of sexual harassment in the UK back in 1996.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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