A New York court on Wednesday sentenced former film producer Harvey Weinstein to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.
That’s what the Reuters news agency writes.
It was Feb. 24 that Weinstein was found guilty, but the sentencing itself was handed down today.
However, the jury acquitted Weinstein of the more serious sexual assault charges that could have triggered a life sentence for the movie mogul.
While Weinstein was acquitted of first-degree rape, he was found guilty of third-degree rape.
A so-called ‘third-degree rape’ is defined by the US judicial system in that the victim has clearly stated – but that the rape has not occurred under conditions of “violent threats, deadly weapons or kidnapping”.
‘How could that happen in the United States?’
67-year-old Harvey Weinstein was born in New York in 1952. He founded the company Miramax with his brother, Bob Weinstein, in 1979. They won their first Oscar with the Danish film ‘Pelle the Conqueror’.
Harvey Weinstein has received charges from over 80 women who have reported him for sexual offenses. The charges range widely, and they deal with everything from inappropriate comments to actual rapes.
Harvey Weinstein has throughout the process declared himself innocent and says there was consent in all cases.
And when the guilty verdict was handed down in February, he was shocked then.
The words he repeated to me over and over were: ‘I’m innocent, I’m innocent, I’m innocent. How could this happen in the United States? ‘, Weinstein’s attorney Arthur Aidala told Variety after the verdict was dropped.
Source: dr.dk
