Sanjana B, Pune
Disgraced American film producer Harvey Weinstein is sentenced to an additional 16 years of imprisonment in another rape case. This sentence is in addition to the 23 years in prison from his previous case.
Weinstein, against whom allegations were made at the height of the #metoo movement in 2017, was convicted of another rape. A Los Angeles court declared the 70-year-old producer guilty of assaulting an Italian actor and model in 2013. He is also serving a separate sentence after his conviction in 2020. This addition of 16 years has increased the possibility of Weinstein spending the rest of his life in prison.
The former Miramax chairman was also found guilty of two counts of sexual assault last year but was absolved of the sexual battery of a massage therapist. Weinstein is currently appealing the verdicts of both cases. “I maintain that I’m innocent. I never raped or sexually assaulted (said victim). Please don’t sentence me to life in prison. I don’t deserve it,” he told the Los Angeles Court on Thursday. Among other claims, Weinstein said he did not know the victim and that the case had too many loopholes. He also stated that the case had very little evidence and that it was a set-up.
Weinstein even referred to the accuser as an “actress with the ability to turn on her tears”. His lawyers, seeking a 3-year sentence after conviction, asked the court to consider his children, his health conditions and his donations to charity. The jury could not decide on the cases of three other sexual assaults, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom‘s case, who is the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.