Justice has been served!
Harvey Weinstein, who long reigned as one of the most influential producers in Hollywood, was found guilty on Wednesday of two felony sex crimes after a trial that became a historic moment for the #MeToo movement.
The decision came two years after the first allegations against him emerged. The jury found Weinstein guilty of two counts, criminal sexual assault in the first degree and rape in the third degree. However, he was acquitted of the two most serious charges against him, predatory sexual assault.
The sentence was handed down by Judge James Burke, after emotional testimony by the two primary victims in the conviction. Judge Burke, before issuing his sentence, told Weinstein that he will be formally registered as a sex offender.
Read: What we all can learn from Hollywood’s response to Harvey Weinstein
For his conviction on the first-degree count of criminal sexual act, Weinstein was given 20 years in prison plus five years of supervised release. On the other convicted charge, third-degree rape, he was given three years in prison.
The jury, made up of seven men and five women, deliberated for five days. The charges were based on Miriam Haley’s testimony that Weinstein assaulted in 2006 and Jessica Mann’s testimony that he raped her in 2013. Four other women also testified.
In a recent development, Weinstein, 67, was transfered to Bellevue Hospital in New York, following chest pains he experienced while at Rikers Island jail, according to his spokesman Juda Engelmayer. He will be evaluated and likely will stay overnight, Engelmayer said.
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