Film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape & sex assault cases that ignited the #MeToo movement in the United States.
New York| Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault, a sight the Hollywood mogul’s multitude of accusers thought they would never see.
Weinstein, who has been accused of violating scores of women, was convicted last month of raping a woman in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on another woman at his apartment in 2006. He faced a maximum of 29 years in prison.
Both women that Weinstein is convicted of assaulting — a once-aspiring actress and a former TV and film production assistant — spoke in court Wednesday before Judge James Burke announced the sentence, confronting Weinstein again after their testimony helped seal his conviction at the landmark #MeToo trial.
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During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Joan Illuzzi asked Burke to impose 25 years or “near” 25 years in prison for his conviction on a charge of a criminal sexual act in the first degree involving Haleyi and to impose a consecutive sentence for the third-degree rape conviction involving Mann. That charge called for up to four years in prison, but the prosecution made no specific request.
Weinstein and the six women who testified against Weinstein were in court for the proceedings.
Prosecutors in court filings last week said the sentence should reflect not only the crimes of which he was convicted but a “lifetime of abuse towards others.”
More than 100 women, including famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct stretching back decades, fueling the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse and harassment. Weinstein has denied the allegations and said that any sex was consensual.
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