The former movie producer Harvey Weinstein, 70, was convicted of sexually assaulting two ladies in New York. Now, he is facing criminal charges related to five other women in Los Angeles. If convicted, he faces up to 140 years in prison.
In New York in 2020, he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault against two women and sentenced to 23 years in prison. On February 24, 2022, a jury in New York convicted the former movie multi-millionaire, who is now serving his sentence.
Weinstein is ready to head on the new trial once more this week, this time in Los Angeles, with the following alleged charges: rape, sexual assault, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint and sexual penetration by use of force.
He pleaded not guilty in both criminal cases in NY, but his lawyers argued that the jury and judge were biased against him.
Chronicle of the events
The New York Times publication, in Oct 2017, brought to the attention of public opinion for the first time the allegations of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct. At that time, 13 girls testified against him, although he denied everything.
He was detained in New York and charged with rape, and sexual misconduct with two women, in May 2018. After the publication of the testimonies, another 80 women accused the former producer of sexual assault, sexual harassment and rape, which contributed to public outrage and the rise of the MeToo movement.
Harvey Weinstein's first conviction occurred in May 2018, but his first trial occurred two years later, in January 2020, when six women testified against him.
After four days of deliberations, the jury found the defendant guilty of 2 counts of rape and sexual assault, but acquitted him of the most severe predatory sexual assault. Prosecutors in Los Angeles filed further allegations against him in October 2020, and officially he was charged with 11 more offenses in April 2021. As a result, the Next York courts decided to extradite him to a prison in Los Angeles until the new trial.
He made his first court appearance in Los Angeles two months later, when a new trial was due to begin on October 10, 2022. The debates are expected to span many months and will start on October 24.
The fresh charges and the accused's plea
The allegations in this trial stem from alleged attacks on five women in West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills between 2004 and 2013.
They will appear before the jury alongside five other witnesses.
In April 2021, Harvey Weinstein's attorneys submitted a petition demonstrating that the witness testimony directed the jury's focus to the moment of the circumstances rather than the hard facts.
As a result, the court granted permission for a second trial within the following 12 months. It is also worth noting that the British government has authorized the relevant parties to charge Harvey Weinstein for two additional alleged sexual assaults from 1996.
