Harvey Weinstein found guilty in LA rape case

By 
 December 20, 2022

The Washington Times reported that disgraced former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of sexual assault this week. 

According to the newspaper, Weinstein was convicted by a Los Angeles jury on Monday following nine days of deliberations.

Jury reaches split decision on charges

Prosecutors alleged that Weinstein committed rape along with forced oral copulation and other forms of sexual misconduct against an unnamed women known only as  Jane Doe 1.

Jane Doe 1 is an Italian model who asserted that Weinstein raped her in 2013 after showing up in her hotel room during a film festival.

However, while Weinstein was found guilty of crimes against Jane Doe 1, jurors remained deadlocked on charges regarding documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who is married to California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Battery allegations

The jury also remained deadlocked over sexual battery allegations leveled by Lauren Young, an aspiring actress and screen writer who met Weinstein in 2013 while she was working as a model.

Young claimed that she was groped by Weinstein in a hotel bathroom, after which he began to masturbate in front of her.

What's more, the former movie producer was found not guilty of sexually battering another woman whose identity remains a secret.

"It is time for the defendant’s reign of terror to end," the Times quoted Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez as saying during her closing arguments. "It is time for the kingmaker to be brought to justice."

She added that Weinstein was long able to use his status as a major Hollywood figure to get away with his crimes, saying, "Who would suspect that such an entertainment industry titan would be a degenerate rapist?"

Weinstein is appealing his 2020 New York conviction

For his part, Weinstein attorney Alan Jackson argued that all of his client's sexual encounters were "100% consensual" before adding, "Regret is not the same thing as rape,"

Jackson insisted that the accessors' case consisted of, "Believe us because we’re mad, believe us because we cried." Yet the attorney stressed that "fury does not make fact. And tears do not make truth."

Fox News reported in August that while Weinstein was found guilty two years ago by a New York jury of rape and sexual assault, the 70-year-old will be allowed to appeal his conviction.

Weinstein's lawyers contend that his trial judge erred by admitting testimony about accusations that were not part of the criminal case as well as by not dismissing a juror who had written a novel about sexually predatory men.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson
© 2015 - 2024 Conservative Institute. All Rights Reserved.