Disgraced movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty on the count of two charges in his New York County trial on Monday, February 24, 2020.
Weinstein was declared guilty for a criminal sexual assault in the first degree based on the testimony of former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley, and rape in the third degree, based on the testimony of one-time aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
Based on the guilty verdict given by the 12-member jury officials, Weinstein will possibly face a maximum of five to twenty-five year-imprisonment for the criminal sexual assault conviction and 18 months to four years for the third-degree rape conviction.
Several attempts were made by the attorneys of Weinstein to cause a verdict favoring on the side of their client based on the grounds that his health is failing and as such cannot serve a jail term. Despite the plea, Weistein was in the end remanded into custody and is currently being held at Bellevue Hospital prison ward in Manhattan.
Donna Rotunno, a senior legal practitioner handling Weinstein’s case disclosed to reporters after the verdict, “We are disappointed. We knew we came in and we were down 35-0 on the day that we started this trial. The jurors came in knowing everything they could know about this case. We couldn’t find a juror who had never heard of Harvey Weinstein. The fight is not over.”
Responding to the news, the Time’s Up women movement have called it a new era of justice, “This trial and the jury’s decision today marks a new era of justice, not just for the Silence Breakers, who spoke out at great personal risk, but for all survivors of harassment, abuse and assault at work,” said Tina Tchen, president and CEO of the Time’s Up Foundation.
The final hearing for all charges labelled against Weinstein will be delivered on March 11, 2020.
