This past Monday out in Los Angeles, the gathered jurors came to a split verdict for the sexual assault and rape trial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Currently serving a sentence of 23 years for rape in New York, Weinstein has been slammed with accusations of sexually assaulting a total of five women between the years 2003 and 2014.
As explained by numerous reports, jurors claimed that Weinstein is guilty of forcible rape & other charges relating to Jane Doe 1, not guilty of sexual battery for Jane Doe 3, and a hung jury for counts related to Jane Doe 2 and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the first lady of California.
Weinstein was also fully acquitted of an allegation of sexual battery made by another woman, as explained by The Associated Press.
Jurors ended up at this verdict in the wake of 41 hours of deliberation over the course of ten days.
Weinstein officially pleaded not guilty to all seven charges, which included two counts each of forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint and forcible oral copulation, and one count of sexual penetration by foreign object, explained a report by CNN.
The Associated Press issued a report that he is looking down the barrel of up to 24 years in prison once he is sentenced.
“It is time for the defendant’s reign of terror to end,” expressed Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez as part of the closing arguments for the prosecution. “It is time for the kingmaker to be brought to justice.”
Weinstein was officially convicted back in 2020 of a first-degree criminal sex act and third-degree rape. He wholly denied any and all accusations of rape and stated that all of the sexual encounters he took part in were entirely consensual. He was legally extradited out to California this past year to be ready to go through the second trial, which will feature just about 50 total witnesses, explained the District Attorney’s office for Los Angeles County.
Earlier this year, a ruling from a New York court of appeals expressed that Weinstein’s team could make an argument for another trial or have his official conviction totally dismissed. Weinstein’s legal team highlighted a number of reasons as to why they thought that Weinstein was not actually given a fair trial and should be entitled to an entirely new one, including that they say too many witnesses unrelated to the sexual assault charges were allowed at trial.
