Harvey Weinstein Sentenced To 23 Years
Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years at a Manhattan court by Judge Burke, who said that he will also have to register as a sex offender upon release.
Weinstein was sentenced to 20 years for criminal sex act in the first degree and three years for rape in the third degree to be served consecutively for assaulting two women in New York. He was also sentenced to 10 years of post-release supervision for both charges.
All seven women who testified during the trial were in court to hear the outcome - the anonymous victim, Miriam Haley, Annabella Sciorra, Rosie Perez, Dawn Dunning, Lauren Young and Tarale Wulff.
The jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty of raping an aspiring actress (who I continue to not name as she has not agreed to be named publicly) at a Midtown Hotel in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant, Miriam Haley in his Lower Manhattan apartment in 2006.
Today the court heard from Joan Illuzzi-Orbon who said "he walked the red carpet and mingled with the stars and held the dreams of many people in his hands, he saw no limit to what he could grant himself. He could take what he wanted." Joan Illuzzi-Orbon asked for the maximum sentence.
Miriam Haley addressed the court and said, 'He had crushed a part of my spirit. If he was not convicted of rape and sexual assault by this jury, it would have happened again and again. I am relieved there are women who are safer because he is not out there."
The anonymous victim was next to address the court, saying "it's time people who rape other people pay with their life and the life they took. I have found my voice" and she added that she hopes for a future where "monster no longer hide in our closets."
Both victims asked for the maximum sentence.
Judge James Burke had received letters from both prosecution and the defence ahead of sentencing.
Joan Illuzzi-Orbon detailed multiple assaults over four decades in arguing for a lengthy sentence. The document listed 16 allegations of sexual assault and harassment dating back to 1978. They are all in addition to the allegations set forth by six female witnesses during Weinstein’s trial, she explained and "show a lifetime of abuse towards others, sexual and otherwise" and a total lack of remorse for the harm he caused."
One male employee said was ordered out of a car by Weinstein and left on the side of the road in a foreign country, according to Illuzzi-Orbon. Other employees reported that Weinstein routinely cursed at them, erupted with a “volcanic” temper and asked executives to lie on his behalf.
Joan Illuzzi-Orbon concluded "the People will ask the court to impose a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the defendants offences, his total lack of remorse for the harm he has caused and the need to deter him and others from engaging in further criminal conduct."
Yesterday unsealed court documents revealed that numerous victims were on Harvey Weinstein's "red flag list" along with Annabella Sciorra. The court only heard about Annabella. The list included Rose McGowan, Zelda Perkins, Lysette Anthony and Rowena Chiu.
Roughly 70 names appeared on the list including Ben Affleck. Weinstein kept a list of names of people he was concerned about talking to journalists in 2017 about his sexual conduct with women.
In other unsealed documents Bob Weinstein, Harvey's brother wrote in an e-mail "U deserve a lifetime achievement award for the sheer savagery and immortality and inhumaneness for the acts u have perpetrated. Oh I forgot. They were all consensual. Then what are u in rehab for? Sex addiction? Don't think so. You wouldn't have harassment, assault and rape charges u have now received, from 82 women for active consensual sex."
Rotunno's response was that none of the allegations had been proven and that Weinstein had done charity work.
"He lost everything" his lawyers wrote in a letter to Judge Burke. Donna Rotunno said that his 'remarkable achievements' warranted a light prison sentence.
My Two Cents:It is only right that Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years, given his abuse of power and prolific offending behaviour.
It is the very fact of who he was/is - the power that he wielded and exploited to his own end, that merits a longer sentence. hat's exactly the point.
And to set the record straight once and for all, Harvey Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein alone destroyed his life and work legacy - no-one else.
He chose to abuse women. Many, many women. He didn't have to do it. There was no gun to his head and he did it because he could.
Let's not forget that he brought this all on himself.
And these brave women broke their silence, at huge cost. Well done all. It takes tremendous courage and mental fortitude to speak out against such a powerful perpetrator.
Consequently, and for the first time in his life, Harvey Weinstein has been stopped and held to account.
So let's stop calling Weinstein a 'disgraced media mogul'. He is a convicted rapist.
The lesson is simple: If you don't want to end up like Harvey Weinstein, don't rape, abuse, assault or harass women.