Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape and sexual assault but acquitted of crucial predatory charges, proving a historic win for the #MeToo movement in regards to sexual misconduct.
67-year-old Weinstein was jailed in the infamous New York’s Rikers Island jail after the jury of seven men and five women found one of the most powerful Hollywood producers guilty of first-degree criminal sexual acts and third-degree rape.
He left Rikers Monday evening, however, and was admitted to Manhattan’s Bellevue Medical Center for chest pains, his spokesman told media sources.
Oscar-winner Weinstein was found not guilty of first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault, charges that could have seen him sent to life in prison.
But, on the two felony convictions, he faces up to 29 years in prison.
Weinstein showed no emotion during the proceedings after the verdict was delivered to a packed New York courtroom. He was held in jail awaiting trial, set for March 11th.
Sources say his lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said that a “shocked” Weinstein was murmuring, “I am innocent, I am innocent. How could America do this? ‘”
Lead counsel Donna Rotunno promised an appeal, saying “the fight is not over” and applauded Weinstein for taking the decision “like a man.”
For the multiple women who made allegations against him, the mixed verdict gave a large measure of defense.
It was the highest-profile conviction of sex assault in the United States since Bill Cosby was found guilty in 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago.
Formed in the wake of the Weinstein case, the Time’s Up Foundation celebrated the outcome as bringing forth “a new era of justice.”
“Abusers everywhere and the powerful forces that protect them should be on notice: There’s no going back,” it said in a statement.
Manhattan’s top prosecutor Cyrus Vance praised the women who testified against Weinstein pointing out that “the course of history” had experienced a change.
“This is the new landscape for sexual violence survivors. This is a new day,” Vance told reporters.
“We all owe an immense debt to you, who had the courage beyond measure to speak your story to the world, to the courtroom, at great personal risk, and in great personal pain.”
