Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for his sexual assault and rape convictions.
Harvey Weinstein pictured in February during the trial. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
A jury in February found the one- time influential Hollywood producer guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping former aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
The sentence was handed down in Manhattan criminal court by Justice James Burke.
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, who addressed the court while sitting in a wheelchair, said he was worried about "thousands of men" being denied due process in the #MeToo era. In a rambling statement, he said he was "confused" and that he believed he had great times with "these people," referring to the women.
He said that he had worked too hard and put too much pressure on himself.
"I really feel remorse about this situation. I feel it deeply in my heart. ... I'm really trying to be a better person."
Weinstein had faced the possibility of a maximum sentence of 29 years in prison.
Defense lawyer Rotunno called the 23-year sentence "obnoxious" and said there were murderers who would go free sooner than Weinstein will. "I am overcome with anger at that number. I think that number is a cowardly number to give. I think the judge caved, just as I believe the jury caved," Rotunno said.
Harvey Weinstein's lawyer Donna Rotunno denounced the prison term as "obscene" and "cowardly". Photo: AFP
Weinstein's lawyers on Monday urged Burke to impose the minimum possible sentence of five years, asking him to consider Weinstein's charitable activities while saying a longer sentence would likely mean Weinstein would die in prison.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance told reporters afterwards that the judge "sent a message today that this type behaviour is something that any potential offender is going to have to consider. The judge took it seriously, which is exactly how we think he should have. And we're grateful."
In an emotional statement in court before the sentencing, Haleyi spoke of the trauma she had endured since the attack, saying, "It scarred me deeply, mentally and emotionally, perhaps irreparably, perhaps forever." She said Weinstein has seemed "completely disconnected from the gravity of the crime he has committed against me."
Mann also addressed the court.
"I want to remind you I told Harvey, 'no,'" she said.
"I am forced to carry that experience until I die," Mann added.
Prosecutors portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who had manipulated women with promises of career advancement in Hollywood, coaxing them to hotel rooms or private apartments and then overpowering and violently attacking them.
"The young struggling dreamers were not even people to him. He could take what he wanted knowing there was very little anyone could do about it," Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi said after the sentencing.
Attorney Gloria Allred represented three of the women who testified in the trial. Outside court she holds a sign showing the sentence given to Harvey Weinstein. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
Hours after the sentencing the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said it had started the extradition process Harvey Weinstein to face sexual assault charges that the city filed in January.
Weinstein has denied the allegations and said that any sex was consensual.
'The damage he has caused'
The sentence was greeted with tears, delight and surprise, particularly from some of the scores of women who have accused him of sexual misconduct dating back decades.
"I literally cried tears of amazement, gratitude that the justice system has worked on behalf of all of his victims today," tweeted Mira Sorvino, one of dozens of actresses who accused Weinstein both of misconduct and of ruining their careers.
Sorvino is one of a group of 24 Weinstein accusers called the Silence Breakers that also includes Ashley Judd, Rosanna Arquette and Rose McGowan. Their allegations, and scores of others, fueled the #MeToo movement.
The Silence Breakers in a statement welcomed the jail sentence but added "no amount of jail time will repair the lives he ruined, the careers he destroyed, or the damage he has caused."
The jury of seven men and five women acquitted Weinstein on the most serious charges, a single count of first-degree rape as well as two counts of predatory sexual assault, which carried a potential life sentence. Those charges relied on testimony by actress Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s.
Weinstein has been awaiting sentencing in New York's Rikers Island jail, where he was moved last Thursday after a 10-day hospital stay at Bellevue Hospital where he underwent a procedure to clear a heart blockage.
Haleyi testified at the trial that Weinstein invited her to his home in 2006 after she had worked on one of his television productions, backed her into a bedroom, held her down on the bed and forced himself on her orally.
Mann told jurors that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in March 2013, about a month into what she described as an "extremely degrading" relationship with him that continued for several years after the attack. Mann called Weinstein a "Jekyll and Hyde" character, charming in public but prone to rage when they were alone.
- Reuters
