Jury finds Harvey Weinstein guilty of sexual assault in New York

A jury today found former Hollywood star producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of first-degree sexual assault against a former production assistant named Miriam Haley, who accused him of forcibly performing oral sex on her in 2006.

Weinstein, who was convicted in this New York State Supreme Court five years ago, could face a maximum of 25 years in prison for this charge.

However, after a turbulent session on Wednesday, the jury found the "Pulp Fiction" producer not guilty of the other first-degree sexual assault charge—the one related to the lawsuit filed by model Kaja Sokola —and will continue deliberating tomorrow to reach a verdict on the remaining third-degree rape charge against him.

The third-degree rape charge involves actress Jessica Mann , who claimed to be the victim of rape by him at a New York hotel in 2013.

Origin of 'MeToo'

The audiovisual magnate was sentenced in 2020 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York to 23 years in prison for the accusations of two women , who also formed part of the accusation in this case and claim that he sexually assaulted them in 2006 and 2013, but that conviction was overturned by a narrow margin of 4-3 just over a year ago in an appeals court alleging a procedural error.

Haley and Mann were both named in the original lawsuit against the media mogul, but Sokola, a Polish woman who met Weinstein when she was a young model and who claims he also forced her to perform non-consensual oral sex on him in 2006 , has been added to this new case.

After six weeks of trial, the jury had to consider two opposing accounts of the co-founder of the Miramax studio. On the one hand, the image of an all-powerful Hollywood mogul who leveraged his power and influence to sexually assault women seeking to prosper in the industry, according to the prosecution; on the other, a successful businessman "a victim of the #MeToo movement" who maintained consensual relationships with models, actresses, and production assistants within a "friends with benefits" relationship, according to the defense.

He has been serving his sentence since 2022.

As he had done throughout virtually the entire retrial, Weinstein, who had pleaded not guilty, appeared calm from his wheelchair in the courtroom as he listened to the two verdicts.

Weinstein has spent the entire trial—except for attending the hearings —held in Bellevue Hospital in New York due to leukemia and heart problems. Beyond this verdict, the 73-year-old has been serving another 16-year sentence for rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles since 2022.