Mr. Weinstein, the movie mogul was convicted of sex crimes, and could very well spend the rest of his life behind bars.
TRANSCRIPT
0:00/1:22
‘This Is What Justice Looks Like’: Lawyers Spar Over Weinstein Sentence
Lawyers for Harvey Weinstein and his victims spoke after he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sex crimes.
- Reporter: “Mr. Weinstein, are you nervous today?” “That sentence that was just handed down by this court was obscene. That number was obnoxious. There are murderers who will get out of court faster than Harvey Weinstein will. That number spoke to the pressure of movements and the public. That number did not speak to the evidence that came out at trial. That number did not speak to the testimony that we heard.” “This is what justice looks like: 20 plus three years sentence handed down by Judge Burke this morning after compelling arguments by the prosecution, and after arguments by the defense. And most importantly, after heartfelt victim impact statements. For all those who are still preying on women, who want to engage in the high-risktaking of harming women and thinking you’ll get away with it, that gamble is likely not to pay off for you anymore.”
Harvey Weinstein, the movie producer who dominated Hollywood for decades, was sentenced on Wednesday to 23 years in prison for sex crimes, as the six women who had testified against him watched from the courtroom’s front row, holding one another, some in tears.
The long sentence meant that Mr. Weinstein, who is 67 and in poor health, could very well spend the rest of his life in prison.
Minutes before, Mr. Weinstein, who was sitting in a wheelchair, had said that he was remorseful but also “totally confused” about what had happened to him. He likened his experience to that of Hollywood figures blacklisted during the scare over communism in the 1950s.
The moment capped a precipitous fall from power for Mr. Weinstein that started in October 2017 when, after years of rumors, several women openly accused him of sexual assault and harassment.
Their stories led women around the world to speak about mistreatment at the hands of powerful men, shifting the cultural landscape with the #MeToo movement.
Justice James A. Burke, who presided over the trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, could have sentenced Mr. Weinstein to as little as five years, but he heeded the arguments of prosecutors who urged him to hand down a much longer sentence.
The judge said that while Mr. Weinstein had no criminal record, several women had testified about other sexual assaults beyond the two for which he had been found guilty.
“Although this is a first conviction, it is not a first offense,” Justice Burke said. “There is evidence before me of other incidents of sexual assault involving a number of women, all of which are legitimate considerations for sentence.”