A Los Angeles jury found Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood film producer, guilty of sexually assaulting an unnamed actress in 2013. The jury convicted him on three counts, acquitted him on one and was deadlocked on three more.
This was the second trial for Weinstein, whom more than 90 women have accused of sexual misconduct, igniting the #MeToo movement. He was found guilty of sexual assault in New York nearly three years ago. Weinstein, 70, received a 23-year sentence in New York, and he is facing up to 24 years in prison in California.
The #MeToo movement began in 2017 after New York Times and New Yorker reporters uncovered Weinstein’s decades of abuse in the film industry. The allegations sparked a global cry for accountability and led to many women sharing their own experiences with sexual misconduct.
Weinstein’s attorneys maintain the instances were consensual and transactional. Alan Jackson, one of the attorneys, said in court the accusers were “fame and fortune seekers.”
Prosecutors will have to decide if they will retry the three counts in which the jury was hung. The allegations were made by Lauren Young, a model and screenwriter, and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a documentary filmmaker and actress married to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
