Harvey Weinstein is sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape and sexual assault 

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and his team have bemoaned what they see as a ‘cruel’ 16 year sentence in prison for rape and sexual assault. 

The once powerful media mogul, 70, was found guilty of rape and two other counts of sexual assault at a trial in Los Angeles in December after previously being sentenced in 2020 for sex crimes in New York City.

Weinstein was already serving a 23-year sentence for separate rape and sexual assault convictions in New York when he was found guilty of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by foreign object of an unnamed Russian-born Italian model.

He will now serve the 16 years consecutively to the 21 years left in his New York sentence. That would mean that Weinstein would be extradited to California to serve his 16 years behind bars in the state at the age of 91. He would then only be released at the age of 107. 

But he still claims he is innocent, and his lawyers tried to argue in court on Thursday that Weinstein was the victim of an unfair trial.

‘I maintain that I’m innocent,’ Weinstein said at the sentencing. ‘I never raped or sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1. I never knew this woman, and the fact is she doesn’t know me.’

‘Please don’t sentence me to life in prison,’ he begged Judge Lisa B Lench, to no avail. ‘I don’t deserve it. There are so many things wrong with this case.’

And his spokesman says the sentence is ‘cruel’ given Weinstein’s age and failing health conditions, vowing that his conviction will be overturned.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Weinstein’s spokesman Juda Engelmayer said the sentence is ‘cruel’ given ‘his age, his health and the conditions of his conviction in Los Angeles when the sole charge was from a person who lied, with the judge and prosecutor well aware of it and permitting it, about critical elements of her own claim.

‘It’s not justice, but a pile on for a man many people just decided should be cast off and discarded regardless of facts. It will be appealed,’ he vowed.

‘The judge, just like the trial judge in his New York trial who was not reappointed to the bench, will eventually be called out for bias and injustice. 

‘There are many out there who will celebrate this action,’ Engelmayer noted, ‘but it is a sad day for justice and fairness, and I hope no one who is pleased with this is ever caught on the wrong side of cancel culture while hopelessly and voicelessly proclaiming innocence.’

The jury in his Los Angeles trial had been unable to reach a decision on three other counts, including those aired by the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who alleged Weinstein raped her in 2005.

It also failed to reach a verdict on allegations involving model Lauren Young, called Jane Doe 2 during proceedings — forcing jurists to declare a mistrial on those counts.

And the disgraced mogul — whose crimes spawned growth of the #MeToo movement in 2017 — was acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by another woman, an unnamed massage therapist who treated Weinstein at LA’s Montage hotel in 2010, known as Jane Doe 3. 

In total, the case contained five sexual assault charges brought by the four women for incidents that transpired in LA county between 2004 and 2013, including two counts of forcible rape — one involving Siebel Newsom, and another involving the unnamed Russian model, who said Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room door during a Los Angeles film festival in 2013.

Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to all the charges, which could have seen his current sentence increase by as much as 65 years

Jurors remained deadlocked over sexual battery allegations leveled by the massage therapist, who broke down in court earlier this month as she recalled how Weinstein groped her and masturbated in front of her in a bathroom after one of their appointments in 2010 

Shouting through tears at times during her impassioned testimony, the 48-year-old wife of California’s more prominent politician testified that Weinstein raped her when she was 31 and trying to build a career as an actor and producer. Jurors voted 8-4 in her favor but could not reach a verdict

Jurors also remained deadlocked in regards to rape and sexual assault charges leveled by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who claims Weinstein sexually assaulted her during a 2005 meeting – telling her ‘relax, this is going to make you feel better’

Over the course of the trial, the accusers shared their stories.

A woman only referred to in court as Jane Doe 1, an unidentified Russian, Italy-based model, said she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein in 2013 and was forced to perform oral sex when he had difficulty maintaining an erection, 

She faced a heated line of questioning from Weinstein’s legal team in October, with the defense accusing her of lying — arguing that at the time of the incident, Weinstein’s testicles had been surgically relocated to his inner thighs.

Jane Doe 1 said the attack took place in  Los Angeles at an Italian film festival, during which Weinstein arrived uninvited at her hotel room in February 2013 and raped her. The attack, during which Weinstein also penetrated her with a foreign object, led to mental anguish and abuse of alcohol, she said. 

‘I was destroying myself,’ she testified early on during proceedings, while fighting back tears. ‘I was feeling very guilty. Most of all because I opened that door.’

She added that she has been the victim of rape in the past and feared being beaten if she didn’t follow Weinstein’s demands for sex. 

Lauren Young, 29, also  claimed that during a 2013 meeting with the mogul about a script, Weinstein trapped her in the bathroom of his Beverly Hills hotel, groped her, and masturbated in front of her.

The alleged incident transpired shortly after the alleged 2013 rape of Jane Doe 1, according to the model, who became acquainted with Weinstein while pursuing a career in acting and screenwriting.

She was the only one of the four accusers to tell her story at both trials, in Los Angeles and New York.

‘I was scared of Harvey Weinstein — that he would hurt me, or send someone to hurt me, or ruin my career, or make my life hell,’ Young said during an emotional testimony.

Weinstein’s attorneys denied the encounter ever occurred, and said there was no evidence she was forced to remain in the room.

A third accuser, a massage therapist known as Jane Doe 3, was hired by Weinstein in May of 2010 for a massage, during which she said he trapped her in a hotel bathroom, groped her, and masturbated in front of her, in an incident eerily similar to the one recounted by Young.

Tearing up at the stand, the masseuse said she was ‘young and naïve’ when Weinstein allegedly abused her, and felt like she couldn’t confide the ordeal to the authorities or her fiancé — but eventually told another of her A-List clients, Mel Gibson, after he indicated he’d be working with Weinstein. 

She expressed shame and disgust that she agreed to see and work with Weinstein again afterward, something the defense attempted to hone in on during cross-examinations.

‘That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t want to come forward, because this is embarrassing,’ she told the court in defiance of the defense’s claims concerning supposed inconsistencies.

‘He went toward me in a very aggressive manner. He pushed me against the wall. That’s when he started to put his hand under my bra and feel my chest.’ 

She added: ‘I was terrified, I thought I was about to get raped.’

Perhaps the most prominent of the four accusers, however, was Siebel Newsom, known as Jane Doe 4 in court, who gave an intensely harrowing account of what she described as a rape by Weinstein at a Beverly Hills hotel in September 2005, where she had been supposed meet with the producer about her aspiring acting career.

Shouting through tears at times during her impassioned testimony, the 48-year-old left onlookers stunned upon airing her accusations in court for the first time, during which she was accused of lying by Weinstein’s defense.

Jurors were also unable to reach a verdict involving model Lauren Young, called Jane Doe 2 in proceeding, who alleged that during a 2013 meeting with Weinstein about a script, he trapped her in the bathroom of his Beverly Hills hotel, groped her, and masturbated in front of her

‘I was scared of Harvey Weinstein – that he would hurt me, or send someone to hurt me, or ruin my career, or make my life hell,’ Lauren Young said during an emotional testimony

In court on Thursday, the victims once again got the chance to tell their stories as Lench considered how long Weinstein would serve in prison for his actions.

‘Ten years later, the effects of this rape are still raw and difficult to discuss,’ Jane Doe 1, the Italian model, said.  ‘I have been carrying his weight this trauma, this irrational belief that it was my fault.

‘His selfish, disgusting actions have greatly impacted my life,’ she continued, explaining that ‘before that night I was a very happy and confident women. I valued myself and the relationship I had with God.

‘I was excited about my future,’ Jane Doe 1 said. ‘Everything changed after the defendant brutally assaulted me.

‘I soon became invisible to myself and to the world/ I lost my identity. I was heartbroken, empty and alone. My rapist did that to me.’

She concluded: ‘Your Honor, I hope you can understand my suffering. There is no prison sentence long enough to undo the damage. 

‘I hope you give him the maximum sentence allowable.’

The case has seen five new sexual assault charges and two of rape leveled against the now wheelchair-bound convict for alleged incidents that transpired in LA between 2004 and 2013. The allegations were brought by four women all referred to as Jane Doe in court documents

But Weinstein’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson, alleged that the sexual assault trial was conducted unfairly saying that ‘by allowing perjury on the stand to go unchecked and unchallenged, the court allowed what can only be described as a cascade of errors.’

He argued that the district attorney introduced ‘false testimony,’ and the defense attorneys were not allowed to cross-examine one of the victims who took the stand as Jane Doe.’

What she said during the trial, Jackson claimed, was not relevant to the charges against Weinstein.

And, he said, the fact that she sued Weinstein after the testimony proves she had a financial motivation to testify against the producer. 

‘She literally camouflaged her true intentions, her true motive.’ 

‘The jury got sucked into the lies told by Jane Doe 1, because they didn’t get the whole story,’ he claimed. ‘The truth was literally hidden from them.

‘There is no question Mr. Weinstein suffered an enormous prejudice in regard to these errors.’ 

‘When all the noise and the smoke and all the distraction is cleared away, the conviction comes down to the word of a single witness: Jane Doe 1. And that’s it,’ he explained.

Jackson then painted Weinstein as ‘just an accused person, nothing more, nothing less.

‘Like anyone lese he is entitled to the absolute best this justice system has to offer.’ Jackson concluded as he argued for a lenient sentence. ‘He did not get a fair trial. He is entitled to a new one.’

But prosecutor Paul Thompson argued that the court acted properly in conducting the trial, noting that Jane Doe 1 was on the stand for two days and the judge never precluded defense attorneys from asking her about her ulterior motives.

‘Now they want a new trial so they can [go] back and ask,’ he claimed. ‘After two days.’

And Judge Lisa B. Lench seemed to agree, dismissing a motion for a new trial.

Weinstein was once a powerful media mogul before scores of women came forward to accuse him of rape and sexual assault in 2017

The case has seen five new sexual assault charges and two of rape leveled against the now wheelchair-bound convict for alleged incidents that transpired in LA between 2004 and 2013. The allegations were brought by four women all referred to as Jane Doe in court documents

Defense attorneys then asked the judge to sentence Weinstein concurrently to his New York sentence, noting that ‘all three counts occurred in one sexual assault.’

Mark Werksman also says Weinstein is a ’70-year-old man in bad health,’ who has already lost four teeth while in Los Angeles County jail.

And, he argued that Weinstein ‘did a lot of good for a lot of people in a 50 year career. He produced hundreds of films that were a joy to millions of people. He was a man that many famous movie stars would thank in their Oscar speeches.

‘He lived a full, rich and productive life that included being a father to five children,’ Werksman continued. ‘He has become to his children the disembodied voice on the telephone.

‘I ask Your Honor to sentence that man, that compassionate and successful man, please do not sentence the man who has become a caricature because of the #MeToo movement.’ 

At that point, Weinstein himself spoke before the court saying that Jane Doe 1 is an actress who ‘can turn the tears on.

‘This is a setup,’ he claims. ‘This is not the way to act in this situation.

‘I beg your mercy,’ he told Lench.

But Lench then moved forward with the 16 year sentence.