Harvey Weinstein has been found partially guilty of multiple sex crimes today by a Los Angeles jury.
Just read out in a downtown court, the panel determined the producer was guilty on all counts in relation to Jane Doe #1, not guilty of sexual battery of Jane Doe #2 and hung on charges on Jane Doe #3 and Jane Doe #4 a.k.a. California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. As it stands right now, Weinstein is looking at a sentence of 18 to 24 years behind bars based on Monday’s guilty verdicts.
With Weinstein in the courtroom, the mixed verdict saw the jurors coming down 10-2 on the Jane Doe #2 count, and 8-4 on guilt on the Jane Doe #4/Newsom counts. As is common in such matters where a unanimous verdict is required, a mistrial has been declared on the counts where the panel were unable to come to a clear decision.
After the initial charges against the Oscar winning producer were trimmed on November 15, Weinstein faced grand jury indictments of two counts of rape and five counts of sexual assault in incidents in L.A. County over timespan of 2004 to 2013.
Entering a not guilty plea on all of the original 11 sexual assault charges brought by LA prosecutors soon after he was extradited to the City of Angels in the summer of 2021, the 70-year-old Weinstein was then looking at a maximum prison sentence of 60 years to life plus five. The much-accused Weinstein was previously sentenced to 23 years in prison by a Manhattan jury in March 2020 for multiple sex crimes. That case is now on appeal.
The decision by the panel of eight men and four women today on the West Coast comes over two weeks after the jurors first went behind closed doors to deliberate. Over those 41 hours, it seemed oddly quiet with the jury not asking for clarification on the charges or sought out answers to any questions by Judge Lisa Lench or the lawyers. The only rumblings from the jury room over the past several days appeared to be from an alternate on December 9 who wanted to go home because of upcoming travel plans — the request was denied after objections by Weinstein’s defense team.
However, on December 13, it became public out that the jury actually did have a few questions earlier this month and had asked for a readback of non-Jane Doe testimony on December 7. Paperwork released by LA Superior Court did not reveal what the questions were or who’s testimony was asked for by the panel. Unlike the LASC judge in the recent Danny Masterson rape trial, Judge Lench, who conferred with lawyers by email, did not alert media or others to the requests by the jury or allow said onlookers in her courtroom for the matter. On the 10th day of deliberations and back from a four-day weekend, there was another readback for the jurors this morning that ran from just after 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM, court officials said.
Today’s verdict also comes as a much-needed victory of sorts for the LA County District Attorney’s office after the recent fumble of the Masterson rape case. Held just down the hall from the Weinstein trial at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in DTLA and running almost in parallel, the criminal proceedings against the former That ‘70s Show star resulted in a mistrial on November 30, and a win for the plaintiff, at least until a new trial is convened likely next year.
Over the course of the often explicit and grisly five-week long Weinstein trial, the jury heard from all four Janes Does in the case, including withering testimony from now California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. In total, including what is known as “prior bad acts” witnesses, eight women took the stand to tell their tale of alleged assaults and other vile misconduct by the one-time mogul.
In closing arguments late last month, and with Weinstein sitting close by in the courtroom, Deputy D.A. Marlene Martinez bluntly called the defendant a “degenerate rapist” and detailed his sexual and psychological “reign of terror” over women for decades.
On the other side, defense lawyer Alan Jackson predictably continued the tactic of Weinstein’s team to attack, attack, attack.
Dismissing Newsom’s potentially pivotal testimony as “a theatrical, overly dramatized performance,” Jackson sought to convince the jury in his closing argument that the D.A.’s office had nothing on his client and had failed to build a case beyond a reasonable doubt. “Take my word for it that it ever happened or take my word for it I didn’t consent,” the lawyer told the courtroom on December 1 of the prosecution’s case and the testimony of the Jane Does. “The truth is immutable. It’s not a feeling. It’s not a whim. It’s not a hashtag,” he added, with a clear swipe at the #MeToo movement his client has come to personify in a predatory sense.
Battling a plethora of heath issues, Weinstein has been behind bars at downtown’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility since landing in LA last year from the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, NY, where he was serving his NYC sentence.