Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of sexual assault Monday, finishing off the downfall of the former Hollywood mogul and a victory for the #MeToo movement against harassment.
Weinstein, 67 years old, was convicted in New York City of third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act. He was cleared of the most serious charge of predatory sexual assault. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
"Harvey Weinstein has finally been held accountable for crimes he committed," said New York District Attorney Cy Vance. "Weinstein is a vicious, serial sexual predator who used his power to threaten, rape, assault, trick, humiliate and silence his victims."
Nearly 80 women had accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. The allegations were at the center of the #MeToo movement that inspired women to go public with misconduct allegations against the once powerful mogul.
Weinstein — who denied all charges — was convicted of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann, an aspiring actress, in 2013.
Another one of Weinstein's accusers, Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, told jurors he raped her in her apartment one night in the mid-1990s. Although her allegation was too old to be charged as a separate crime, prosecutors were able to use it to demonstrate that Weinstein was a repeat sexual offender.
After five days of juror deliberation, the former Hollywood producer was found guilty of criminal sex act for assaulting Haleyi and for third-degree rape of Mann. Weinstein was found not guilty of predatory sexual assault, the more serious criminal charge, which could have given him a life sentence.
Weinstein did not testify but his lawyers asserted that all sexual contact between Weinstein and the women was consensual and was pursued by the accusers to further their careers.
Throughout the trial, Weinstein often arrived disheveled, unshaven and using a walker as the result of a recent back surgery. However, Weinstein was called out by a number accusers as being a "Jekyll and Hyde," quickly going from charming to menacing and controlling.
"If he heard the word 'no', it was like a trigger for him," one rape accuser testified.
For years, Weinstein silenced women with non-disclosure agreements, payoffs and the looming threat he could end their careers if they spoke out.
It wasn't until May 2018 that Weinstein was arrested; seven months after The New York Times and The New Yorker's Pulitzer Prize-winning report that would reveal his alleged crimes.
Weinstein will face trial in Los Angeles for the first time on charges for raping one women and sexually assaulting another during Oscars week in 2013.
