Harvey Weinstein Sentenced to Fifteen Years After Retrial

Harvey Weinstein sentenced to fifteen years in prison on Wednesday for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, a former Project Runway production assistant, at his Manhattan apartment two decades ago, according to Reuters. The sentence, handed down to the former Hollywood producer by Manhattan judge Curtis Farber, followed a retrial conviction last year and closes one of the most closely watched chapters of the #MeToo era.

Weinstein, seventy-four, appeared in court in a wheelchair and had faced a maximum sentence of a quarter century after jurors found him guilty of a first-degree criminal sexual act. He has already spent more than six years in custody as the case cycled through the criminal justice system, and at his age he is likely to remain behind bars well into his eighties, according to the Associated Press. He is expected to appeal. A Weinstein spokesman said in a statement that Weinstein maintains his innocence and strongly disagrees with the sentence, Reuters reported.

What Haley and Weinstein told the court

Haley addressed the court before the sentence was imposed, describing damage she said will never fully fade. She told the court that being sexually assaulted by Weinstein had a devastating effect on her life and sense of security that she feared might never go away, according to the Associated Press. She added that choosing to speak up would leave her looking over her shoulder for years to come, describing the ordeal as a life sentence for herself.

She said the long fight for accountability had deepened the harm, telling the court she had been further traumatized by exercising her right to hold him accountable, according to CNN. She added that she had thought about ending her pursuit of justice many times. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg praised Haley for her testimony and said he was moved by her courage, Reuters reported.

Weinstein spoke minutes later, apologizing while insisting he had done nothing criminal. He told the judge he felt remorse for Haley's pain but reiterated his innocence, according to USA Today. He added that he was not a perfect person but was someone who had made mistakes, according to NBC News. Before imposing the sentence, Farber told Weinstein that he had taken what he wanted by force and had never accepted responsibility, according to Entertainment Weekly. Some of his accusers hugged and brushed away tears as he was moved out of the courtroom, the Associated Press reported.

The long legal road to this sentence

Weinstein was convicted in New York half a dozen years ago of assaulting Haley and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann, and was sentenced to twenty-three years in prison. The state's highest court overturned that conviction on appeal, ruling that testimony about alleged acts that were never charged had deprived him of a fair trial. At last year's retrial, jurors convicted him on the Haley charge, acquitted him on an allegation involving former model Kaja Sokola, and deadlocked on the rape charge involving Mann. A third trial on Mann's allegation ended in another mistrial in May, and prosecutors dropped the charge after Mann said she did not want to testify in a fourth trial, Reuters reported.

Weinstein was also convicted separately in California of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to sixteen years. A California appeals court upheld those convictions but ordered him resentenced because the trial judge had treated his since-overturned New York convictions as an aggravating factor. After the New York sentence, he will face five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Why this case still matters

Weinstein co-founded Miramax and produced Oscar winners including Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction. When assault allegations against him surfaced almost ten years ago, they set off the #MeToo movement, encouraging women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men, Reuters reported. His original conviction was a milestone for the movement, which is why its reversal hit so hard. Wednesday's outcome, with Harvey Weinstein sentenced again, restores a measure of the accountability the original trial promised.

Late accountability keeps showing up in the headlines. The UK recently brought historic charges tied to the Rwanda genocide, long after the killings, as covered on GenZ NewZ this week. And Haley's willingness to testify twice speaks to how hard speaking up remains: a recent survey found that a large share of women say their doctors dismissed their concerns.