Name: Harvey Weinstein jailed for 23 years in rape trial - BBC News
Uploaded: 2020-03-16T10:03:29.000Z
Duration: 10 min 54 s
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Now out of New York, we are hearing that the former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Let's go straight now to our correspondent who's there for us not to tell Fig Neta.

So the way that this sentence breaks down is that Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 20 years for the Criminal Sexual Act in the first degree that he was convicted for.

That's in relation to me, me Haley, who said that he forced oral sex on her in 2006 in his apartment.

He was then given three years for the third degree rape charge on which he was convicted.

That's in relation to Jessica Man, who said he raped her in 2013 in a Manhattan hotel.

Now that sentence will be served consecutively, and then after that he will have a five year supervision for the rape charge.

So this, of course, is on the higher end of the sentence we were expecting.

So those 23 years on the higher end of that sentence, clearly the judge here felt that that was warranted, going with the prosecutor's argument that a message really needed to be sent here to other victims, that they could come forward and expect that their voices would be heard, that there would be consequences for sexual assault and two other sexual predators again, that they will not be able to get away with these types of crimes now.

So this is obviously a disappointment for Harvey Weinstein and his defense team, who had argued that he should get a light sentence because of his health problems.

He just recently had surgery for a heart blockage, and they said that anything more than five years would essentially amount to a life sentence but clearly hear the judge deciding that Harvey Weinstein deserved a tough punishment going with those 23 years on.

Of course, this all came back on the back of the me to movement a huge movement where women rallied around the world against sexual harassment and sexual violence.

No doubt all of his victims would be welcoming this sentence.

I mean, it's important to remember that Harvey Weinstein, his downfall quite literally sparked the me to movement.

He really embodied this idea of power being able to shield predators from consequences.

And we've heard from his two main accusers in the courthouse today saying how deeply these attacks had affected them permanently affecting their lives.

And they said that Jessica Man, for her part, said that her rape could have been prevented, that Harvey Weinstein was a known predator.

And she said she felt relief that this sentence, that this conviction would at least shield other women in the future because her and Mimi Haley both believed that if he wasn't convicted that he could have gone on to harm other women.

Obviously we say that How do you put a number of proper sentence on what has been a lifetime impact on them and his other victims, but certainly relief here today for them who have called for the judge to give a tough sentence here and now.

We are waiting for that trial as well, and for the sentencing in California for another case.

I mean, after now that the sentencing here is complete, focus does turn to Los Angeles prosecutors there to find out when they will seek to have Harvey Weinstein moved from the prison in New York to Los Angeles to hear that case where he'll have to defend himself against more sexual assault allegations.

Remember, he goes into that now is a convicted rapist, so the sentence there could be that much a tougher given his prior conviction.

And what's interesting is that one of the women who is part of that Los Angeles case actually testified against Harvey Weinstein here in New York.

She was in the courtroom today to hear his sentence, along with the other five women alongside her who testified.

Soon she'll be in that court in Los Angeles giving testimony against him in that case, and that how has this played out where you are?

Because, of course, you know, he was once someone who was so celebrated in Hollywood and in other parts of the country.

Okay, you know, I think it's really interesting you, Aldo.

We've had some court documents that have been released that previously had been sealed in the last few days, and it really showed how Harvey Weinstein, right after his downfall, had appealed to the likes of Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Base toast him cook powerful people in the world that he knew who he tried to say, You know, help me out here.

And what it showed was that with the Harvey Weinstein's power in Hollywood, despite all of that, really something changed immediately with those New York Times and New Yorker.

A sweeping investigations and articles that showed that Harvey Weinstein had for decades abused women, sexually assaulted them, raped them.

And what we saw was very quickly his downfall.

People abandoning him, people understanding that what was a kind of open secret in some Hollywood circles with no longer stand in America, that this was a new era, new reckoning of sexual assault.

And during this trial, that was what was so important here.

The symbolism behind someone like Harvey Weinstein being convicted, but also a very kind of concrete acknowledgment that me, too, would also affect the criminal justice system.

It would change the way that these cases would be tried.

So here, for example, in this case, it wasn't just about the fact that Harvey Weinstein was finally having Thio face thes consequences in court.

It was about this whole idea, this notion of how victims were supposed to act.

So the defense tried to say that these women kept in touch with Harvey Weinstein that they had relationships with him.

They believe the women, they believe the fact that victims often do stay in touch with their Attackers.

It doesn't discount the fact that they were attacked, They were raped.

And so this really did mark a big change here for the way that these trials can be prosecuted in the future.

And we can show our viewers some life footage there.

Just just give us a sense of what's going on outside the court.

Yeah, well, I mean, as you can imagine when then sentence came out, everyone ran out to break the news here in New York.

We do obviously want to hear from those women.

The six women who testified in this trial to get their reactions.

The prosecutors here have said that they will not come out and speak but they have obviously given out their statements ahead of today.

We do expect many of the other Harvey Mind seen victims who called themselves the silence breakers to provide reaction to the sentencing and just tell us a little bit more about his victims.

I mean, have they been coming out throughout this trial and just ahead of the sentence and being very vocal?

I mean, I've been reading and seeing things about them.

Remember, of the four additional women who testified in this case weren't allowed to give victim impact statements the same way just command and Mimi Hayley were so many of them took to the press writing statements again, speaking about how there this has impacted their entire life, how facing sexual assault and rape isn't just about that pain of that one time that one incident, but how it affects you over Ah, lifetime and how painful it was to watch Harvey Weinstein for years be celebrated while they were victims and feeling very alone, not realizing how many other victims were out there.

And so what we've seen is really almost the sisterhood that has developed thes women coming together who have been wine scenes, accusers more than 80 of them all together coming together to say We will never again be silenced, really relying on each other throughout all of this because, remember, it's been more than two years now, since the first allegations were broken in New York Times in New Yorker magazine, and so this has been a very long road.

Victims have had to wait a very long time for justice in this case, but all of this has provided some sense of resolution.

Finally, Harvey Weinstein convicted and given a tough sentence and it just being the beginning because he will face not only more charges in Los Angeles, but also remember the civil settlements that they're working toward with Harvey Weinstein, a cz well, and so that is a non going process.

But as I say, the victim's really finding their voice, feeling the freedom to speak out and finding comfort on being able to rely on one another.

Indeed, because it was unclear whether you know it stretched from anywhere between five years and potentially 29 years.

And, as you say, the tougher end off the spectrum in terms of sentencing.

I mean, it's important to remember that Harvey Weinstein wasn't convicted on three of the more serious charges in this case of sexual, sexual predator predatory charges.

But nevertheless, this was still a monumental win for prosecutors because in the beginning, this was seen as almost a long shot case.

I mean, you look at the statistics, and these cases are extremely hard to try.

And that's why in the past, when prosecutors had a case against Ah Harvey Weinstein, they didn't think it was strong enough, and they were reluctant to bring those charges back in 2015.

And so over the years we saw that the most Harvey Weinstein's victims could get were secret settlements and non disclosure agreements with Harvey Weinstein, and that kept him protected.

Still, a kind of top of Hollywood society is appraise producer, But finally, here you have a very strong signal that Harvey Weinstein is a convicted rapist and sexual predator.

 Meta thanks so much for that update from outside the court. 

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Harvey Weinstein jailed for 23 years in rape trial - BBC News

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