Former film producer Harvey Weinstein was found partially guilty on Wednesday in a new trial in New York for charges of rape and sexual assault.
Weinstein was convicted of assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. However, the jury did not convict him of sexually abusing Polish model Kaja Sokola, who was a teenager at the time. Deliberations continue regarding the charge of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
The three women testified during the trial, sometimes for days, about how Weinstein coerced them into sexual encounters after luring them to his flat or hotel room in New York. The defence tried to discredit their stories, highlighting that the women continued to associate with Weinstein after the alleged incidents.
The retrial followed the overturning of Weinstein’s 2020 conviction last year. The 73-year-old was initially sentenced to 23 years in prison for raping Jessica Mann in 2013 and assaulting Miriam Haley in 2006. The retrial included an additional charge of assaulting Kaja Sokola in 2002, when Sokola was 16, according to The New York Times.
Revelations about Weinstein’s misconduct in 2017 sparked the #MeToo movement. Since then, more than eighty women have accused him of harassment, assault, or rape.
Although his 2020 conviction was overturned, Weinstein remains in prison, serving a 16-year sentence from a separate rape case in 2022, a verdict he is currently appealing.
