Harvey Weinstein verdict: Guilty on third-degree rape and criminal sexual act charges

Harvey Weinstein is going to prison. The disgraced media mogul whose alleged abuse of multiple women kicked off the current phase of the Me Too movement was sentenced on Wednesday to 23 years in prison after his conviction on February 24 on two charges: a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.

Though dozens of women came forward to accuse the 67-year-old Weinstein of rape or assault, his conviction was based on the testimony of just two: Jessica Mann, who said Weinstein raped her in 2013, and Miriam Haley, who said he forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006. The charges Weinstein was convicted on carried a maximum sentence of 29 years in prison; he was acquitted on one charge of rape in the first degree and two counts of predatory sexual assault, which had the possibility of a life sentence.

Rebecca Solnit is one of the great activist-essayists of our age. Her books and writing cover a vast amount of human existence, but a common thread in her work — and a focus of her upcoming memoir, Recollections of My Nonexistence — is what it means to be voiceless, ignored, and treated as an unreliable witness to the events of your own life.

“We always say nobody knows, and that means that everyone who knows was nobody,” Solnit says. “Everyone who was nobody knew about Harvey Weinstein.”

Are abusive men invisible?

The question seems almost perverse. Of course they’re not invisible; to their victims, they’re all too visible, taking up all the space in the victims’ lives and minds, crowding out the possibility of feeling “normal.” Some grab headlines and demand to be heard. They’re larger than life.

Harvey Weinstein is going to prison.

A man accused of sexually assaulting or harassing at least 100 women, whose accounts helped catapult the Me Too movement into its current, most public phase, will face criminal consequences for his actions. This much we know.

Harvey Weinstein’s verdict is in, and the first high-profile Me Too trial is over.

In October 2017, the New York Times and the New Yorker published their landmark articles accusing the Hollywood producer of sexual harassment, assault, and rape, launching the Me Too movement into overdrive. And on Monday, a jury found Weinstein guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act in the first degree. He was found not guilty of first-degree rape and two charges of predatory sexual assault, the more serious of the five charges he faced.

At his trial in New York, producer Harvey Weinstein faced five charges in connection with allegations that he raped or sexually assaulted women.

On Monday, he was convicted on two of those charges: rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act.

A New York jury on Monday found producer Harvey Weinstein guilty on two sex crimes charges, including rape in the third degree.

However, the jury acquitted Weinstein on two counts of predatory sexual assault, the most serious charges he faced.

After nearly a month-long trial, Harvey Weinstein has been convicted on two criminal counts, more than two years after sexual assault allegations against the movie mogul erupted into the public consciousness. On February 24, a jury found Weinstein guilty of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.

Though Weinstein was hardly the first powerful man to be accused of assaulting and raping women, the allegations lit a flame beneath the #MeToo movement. Within months, the list of his accusers contained at least 100 women.

Welcome to Vox’s weekly book link roundup, a curated selection of the internet’s best writing on books and related subjects. Here’s the best the web has to offer for the week of February 16, 2020.

And here’s the week in books at Vox:

In the afternoon of their fourth day of deliberations, the jury in producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial sent a note to the judge.

They wanted to know if they could deliver a verdict on some of the charges but fail to reach a decision on the others.

On the second day of being questioned in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial, Jessica Mann broke down on the stand.

Mann had testified on Friday that Weinstein raped her, then manipulated her into an abusive relationship, Nishita Jha reports at BuzzFeed. Then, on Monday, Weinstein’s defense lawyer peppered Mann with questions, suggesting that perhaps it was she who manipulated the producer.

With the Harvey Weinstein trial underway, news coverage is bound to churn up emotions for sexual assault survivors, much as it did during Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings in 2018. When Christine Blasey Ford took the stand and described how then-Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school — and then had her credibility picked apart — many of the women around me were subdued or anxious. They suddenly suffered from migraines or came down with colds. These were not coincidences. They were the physical effects of trauma.

So assuming we are going to be exposed to ongoing and extensive reporting of the Weinstein trial for the next few months — the movie mogul faces multiple charges of sexual assault and rape in New York — how do we keep ourselves physically and emotionally healthy?

Harvey Weinstein arrived at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday morning to stand trial on sexual assault charges. Using a walker after recent back surgery, he passed by dozens of protesters, some bearing signs with messages like “justice for survivors.”

It was the latest chapter in what’s become one of the defining stories of the modern Me Too movement. At least 100 women say the producer and former Weinstein Company head sexually harassed or assaulted them. While the reports go back decades, Weinstein never faced criminal action — until now.

Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexual assault or harassment by more than 80 women. News of the allegations against him helped kick off the current, most public phase of the Me Too movement. To many, he is a symbol of the way influential men can abuse their power, unchecked and even aided by those around them. He’s often held up as an example of someone accused of so many serious crimes and misdeeds that other accused men pale in comparison — maybe some people can be forgiven, the argument sometimes goes, but surely not Harvey Weinstein.

Then, on Wednesday, he walked right into a comedy show.

On January 16, 2019, 12 women got together for a meal in Los Angeles.

They were actresses, a professor, a former political candidate, a McDonald’s worker. What they had in common was that each had a story of experiencing sexual misconduct, often committed by a powerful man.

A prosecutor agreed on Thursday to drop part of the criminal case against former producer Harvey Weinstein, who had been charged with rape and sexual assault earlier this year.

Weinstein faced criminal charges in connection to allegations by three different women. On Thursday, the Associated Press reports, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon dropped the charge associated with a report by marketing consultant Lucia Evans, who said that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 when she was an aspiring actress. Weinstein has denied all allegations of criminal behavior.

The history of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s downfall will always mention the three reporters — Ronan Farrow, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey — who, in 2017, publicized his abusive history in the pages of the New Yorker and the New York Times.

But back in 2002, Ken Auletta made Weinstein cry.

Harvey Weinstein is pleading not guilty, CNN reports.

The former producer has been publicly accused of sexual misconduct — up to and including rape — by dozens of women since the first stories of his behavior broke last fall, setting off the waves of reports that would become the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. Now he’s been indicted on charges of two counts of rape and one first-degree criminal sex act charge in New York state after surrendering to authorities on May 30.

Dozens of women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault against former Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein. At least two of them are now getting their day in court.

New York City police detectives arrested Weinstein Friday morning for allegedly raping one woman and forcing another woman to perform oral sex on him, according to the New York Times.

Administering erectile dysfunction shots. Returning women’s clothing left behind after sexual encounters. Blocking out calendar space for sex.

These are just some of the duties Weinstein Company employees, most of them women, were expected to perform for Harvey Weinstein, according to a lawsuit filed in February by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

“I lost career opportunity, I lost money, I lost status and prestige and power in my career as a direct result of having been sexually harassed,” Ashley Judd said on Good Morning America on Tuesday.

The actress is suing producer Harvey Weinstein for defamation, sexual harassment, and violation of California’s unfair competition law, which prohibits unfair business practices, according to the New York Times. She says that after she rejected Weinstein’s advances, he told lies about her to director Peter Jackson, costing her a role in the Lord of the Rings franchise.

After trying and failing to find a buyer, the Weinstein Company is officially filing for bankruptcy — which is a game changer for Harvey Weinstein’s alleged victims.

Founded by Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein in 2005, the company was already in some financial trouble before the allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Harvey Weinstein broke last October. Afterward, however, it became a toxic liability unto itself.

Detectives with the New York Police Department are building a case to arrest disgraced former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for rape, the New York Times reports.

Over the past month, dozens of women both inside and outside the entertainment industry have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment and assault, including Hollywood A-listers like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. More than one of these women has accused Weinstein of rape, but the Times reports that the NYPD is currently focusing on the allegations of Boardwalk Empire actress Paz de la Huerta. She is one of Weinstein’s most recent accusers, saying in an interview with CBS News earlier this week that Weinstein raped her on two separate occasions in 2010, when she was living in New York City.

The full scope of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct is broadening even further.

On Saturday morning, actress and director Asia Argento, who previously said Weinstein had harassed and assaulted her in the 1990s, posted a list of 82 women who say that Weinstein harassed or abused them. It functions for now as the most extensive list, adding dozens of claims to those already compiled by Vox and others.

DETROIT — Ten years before the allegations against Harvey Weinstein became public knowledge, Tarana Burke was already helping young women talk about sexual assault. Working with girls at an organization she co-founded called Just Be Inc., she heard a lot of reports of sexual violence, and she wanted to offer young survivors what she needed in the aftermath of her own assault: empathy.

So she started the Me Too campaign “to spread a message for survivors: You’re heard, you’re understood.”