Harvey Weinstein still faces sex assault charges in Los Angeles

Harvey Weinstein’s accusers have warned ‘we will get you in LA’ as the convicted rapist now faces charges in California that could potentially land him another two decades in prison.   

Weinstein is facing up to 29 years in prison after being convicted on Monday in New York of raping Jessica Mann in 2013 and sexually assaulting Mimi Haleyi in 2006.

Following his conviction, some of his Hollywood actress accusers said they welcomed his next trial in Los Angeles in a case that is expected to have a far wider scope than New York.    

In the California case, Weinstein is accused of raping one woman in a Beverly Hills hotel and groping another woman while masturbating in a hotel bathroom on consecutive nights during Oscars week in 2013. 

He is charged with forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint.

The charges, which were announced the night before his New York rape trial started on January 6, could land Weinstein an additional 28 years in prison if convicted of the most serious counts. 

At a press conference outside Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday, actress and accuser Louisette Geiss said: ‘Harvey, you messed with the wrong women.’ 

‘We will see you here in Los Angeles, where hopefully your conviction will leave you in jail for life,’ she said. 

‘We will get you in LA.’ 

At a press conference outside Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday, actress and accuser Louisette Geiss said: ‘Harvey, you messed with the wrong women.’

Jessica Barth, Rosanna Arquette, Laura O’Connor, Caitlin Dulany and Louise Godbold attend a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday following Weinstein’s conviction

Following his conviction, some of his Hollywood actress accusers – including Rosanna Arquette – said they welcomed his next trial in Los Angeles in a case that is expected to have a far wider scope than New York

Jessica Barth, Rosanna Arquette, Lauren O’Connor, Sarah Ann Masse, Caitlin Dulany, Louise Godbold, Melissa Sagemiller Nesik, Louisette Geiss, Larissa Gomes, Lauren Sivan, and Katherine Kendall held a press conference on Tuesday in Los Angeles

She was joined at the press conference by Rosanna Arquette, Lauren Sivan, Sarah Ann Masse, Melissa Sagemiller Nesic, Louise Godbold, Lauren O’Connor, Larissa Gomes, Katherine Kendall, Jessica Barth and Caitlin Dulany. 

‘Now we know that if we dare to speak, there is a far greater chance we will be heard and our abusers will be punished,’ actress Rosanna Arquette said. ‘It is a historic shift that I never thought I would see in my lifetime.’ 

The women reported mixed emotions on hearing about Weinstein’s conviction on Monday. For some, the verdict came more than 20 years after they say they were abused by the producer. 

‘Many of us didn’t think this day would come,’ said television reporter Lauren Sivan. ‘We were actually really nervous and holding our breath because there was a very good chance he would walk.’ 

The LA case will not start until after his sentencing in New York on March 11 and no date has yet been set.

Weinstein is expected to be released into the custody of Los Angeles authorities so he can face trial there. If convicted, he would then serve any potential prison sentence in California after his New York sentence is over.

Weinstein’s lawyer Donna Rotunno told DailyMail.com that their team haven’t yet started thinking about the LA case. 

One of the woman Weinstein is charged with sexually assaulting in the LA case, Lauren Marie Young, was one of the six accusers who testified during the New York trial.

Young, a model and actress, was among three women allowed to testify as prosecutors sought to show Weinstein’s ‘prior bad acts’ to establish a pattern of abuse.

It is not yet clear how many prior bad act witnesses LA prosecutors will call in that case.

California does not have the same restraints New York does in terms of allowing such witnesses and prosecutors are reportedly hoping to take advantage of it by widening the scope and number of witnesses they can use to show an alleged pattern.

Italian-Filipina model Ambra Gutierrez is expected to be one of those witnesses, sources told the New York Times.  

One of the woman Weinstein is charged with sexually assaulting in the LA case, Lauren Marie Young, was one of the six accusers who testified during the New York trial

Italian-Filipina model Ambra Gutierrez is expected to testify in Los Angeles. Gutierrez was one of the first women to publicly accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct in 2015 when she went to police and claimed he had fondled her breasts and put his hand up her skirt during a business meeting. She is pictured outside court on Monday in New York

Gutierrez was one of the first women to publicly accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct in 2015 when she went to police and claimed he had fondled her breasts and put his hand up her skirt during a business meeting. 

Investigators had her wear a wire when she went to meet with the producer the following day and he was heard in the tapes apologizing for his inappropriate touching as he begged her to go to his hotel room. 

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, however, declined to press charges at the time. 

While LA prosecutors can’t bring charges against Weinstein over Gutierrez’s allegations, her testimony is expected to play a role in the case there.  

In the criminal complaint against Weinstein in LA, prosecutors allege he raped an unidentified accuser after attending a Hollywood film festival together on February 17, 2013.

After the woman returned to her hotel room, Weinstein knocked at her door and she let him in. They spoke briefly before she alleged he attacked and raped her.

Prosecutors said the woman delayed disclosing the alleged assault because, in part, Weinstein threatened her life.

The next evening, Young – the second accuser – said she went to Weinstein’s hotel room with an acquaintance of hers – Mexican model Claudia Salinas – following a business meeting.

Prosecutors say Young unwittingly followed Weinstein into the bathroom and Salinas shut the door behind her. Weinstein allegedly then stripped naked, took a brief shower, stripped Young naked and then masturbated before releasing her.

Salinas, who was brought in as a defense witness in New York, denied trapping Young in the bathroom with Weinstein. 

The disgraced Hollywood producer was handcuffed in court before being led away. He has been remanded in custody until his March 11 sentencing and will likely be held at the grim Rikers Island prison in New York City

Weinstein was convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 (left) and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 (right)

Following his conviction in New York, prosecutors hailed it as a pivotal moment that could change the way the legal system views a type of sexual assault case historically considered difficult to prove.

Most of the women who testified against Weinstein stayed in contact with him – and sometimes had consensual sexual encounters with him – after alleged attacks. None promptly reported his crimes. There was little physical evidence to bolster their stories. 

The jury convicted anyway, finding the producer guilty of raping Jessica Mann in 2013 and sexually assaulting Mimi Haleyi in 2006. 

He was acquitted of the two most serious counts of predatory sexual assault, which each carried a potential life sentence. He was also found not guilty of first degree rape in relation to Mann. 

‘This is a new day,’ Vance said after the verdict was announced. 

‘Rape is rape whether the survivor reports within an hour, within a year or perhaps never. It’s rape despite the complicated dynamics of power and consent after an assault. It´s rape even if there is no physical evidence.’ 

Dozens of women who crossed paths with Weinstein through the entertainment industry have said he bullied, pressured, coerced or overpowered them while demanding sexual favors. The alleged encounters took place over many decades, amid movie screenings in Los Angeles, film festivals in Cannes, and business meetings in New York or London.

The New York case involved only six accusers: three directly linked to the charges and three whose testimony was meant to bolster the prosecution case.

Weinstein’s defense team argued that the encounters were consensual, if perhaps ‘transactional’: He wanted sex, they wanted access to his power over the film world.

While the law recognizes that people can be assaulted by intimate partners in ongoing relationships, those cases have rarely been prosecuted in the past, because they´re difficult to prove, several trial lawyers said. 

The tide is starting to change, however, as prosecutors take more risks and juries become more aware of the complexities of human behavior.