Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape at Los Angeles trial

A jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault, both relating to the same person, at his trial in Los Angeles. 

The guilty charges were for forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by foreign object of Jane Doe 1, an Italian model, at the Mr. C Hotel in the city in February 2013.

Three other women had also accused him of rape and sex assaults which took place between 2005 and 2013.

Weinstein was found not guilty of sexual battery by restraint of Jane Doe 3, a massage therapist.

On charges of sexual battery by restraint of Jane Doe 2 — previously identified as actress and screenwriter Lauren Young — and forcible rape and forcible oral copulation of Jane Doe 4, who has previously been identified as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the jury was hung and could not deliver a unanimous verdict.

The jury, made up of nine men and three women, reached their decision after 10 days of deliberations and 41 hours of debate.

70-year old Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault after being convicted in New York in 2020 on different sex crime charges, although he has appealed that verdict.

A total of 44 witnesses testified during the five-week trial where each of the victims testified anonymously, although Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, had previously identified herself as being part of the trial.

Four additional “prior bad acts” witnesses — women who were not part of the case, but said they had also been sexually assaulted by Weinstein — were also allowed to take the stand to establish a pattern of his behavior and provided emotionally-charged testimony.

One of those victims, Ashley M., testified she was raped by the disgraced Miramax and Weinstein Company producer in a hotel in Puerto Rico while she was working as the body double for actress Romola Garai. 

Meanwhile, Siebel Newsom broke down in tears when she recounting how Weinstein had allegedly raped her in 2005 at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

“I’m standing. I’m resisting,” she testified. “Horror. I’m trembling. This is my worst nightmare. I’m just this blow-up doll that he’s just trying to masturbate off of.”

She also got visibly angry later in the case when defense attorney Mark Werksman asked her to show how she had “faked an orgasm” with his client to the courtroom. 

Siebel Newsom retorted, “This is not ‘When Harry Met Sally.’ I’m not doing that.”

In her closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said the former Hollywood titan lured the women to hotel rooms under the guise of business meetings.

Martinez said Weinstein also used his female employees and associates to reach out and “deliver” the victims to the hotel rooms. Once inside the hotel, Weinstein would undress and masturbate in front of the women. Siebel Newsom and Jane Doe 1, a model, both testified Weinstein penetrated them with his “deformed” penis. 

“In a word, he was powerful, and he held that power to prey on women, to silence women,” Martinez said. “He used that power without the consequences of his predatory behavior. … He believed he was so powerful. For many years that’s what he did. The truth is, many people knew but never did anything.”

Defense attorney Alan Jackson, however, told jurors during his closing argument that prosecutors did not provide any evidence to prove Weinstein had committed the charges related to the four Jane Does. He added the other four “prior bad acts” witnesses were just “excuses to pile on” Weinstein. 

Jackson had said the alleged rape of Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 “simply never happened,” while Jane Doe 3 and Jane Doe 4 had “transactional sex” with Weinstein and continued a relationship with him because it benefitted their careers to be associated with the then powerful Hollywood producer. 

“‘Take my word for it’— five words that sum up the entirety of the prosecution’s case,” Jackson said. “They were untruthful with you, without exception. Jane Doe 1, 2, 3, 4 all told you lies. … “Fury does not make facts, and tears do not make truth.”

In his 2020 New York trial, jurors took five days to deliberate. before finding Weinstein guilty of rape and criminal sexual assault. However, he was acquitted of the two most serious charges against him — both counts of predatory sexual assault.

The accusations in Weinstein’s New York case set into motion the #MeToo movement, exposing predatory practices with the Hollywood “casting couch” culture and other industries.

Weinstein will be sentenced in the new year.