He’ll be legally sentenced in a couple of days, but really, he’s already imprisoned — condemned to a life he could never have imagined. Harvey Weinstein’s legacy is doubly impactful. Not only was he the catalyst for the national #Metoo movement, he is also now a symbol of the long-overdue reckoning for sexual assault victims.
The former Hollywood entertainment titan, the prodigious producer of popular films and TV was convicted of only two of the five charges. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the women who dared accuse him refused to keep silent anymore. New York District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon made that clear saying, “They came to be heard ... in the hopes their voices would be enough for justice.”
Their testimonies were enough to get the convictions — six women who waited a long time to recall his shocking brutish actions in a courtroom convinced the jury. I really don’t know how the jury was able to keep from vomiting while listening to the salacious details of his assaults. They found him guilty of rape and criminal sexual assault, but not on the more serious charge of predatory sexual assault. I know there are legal specificities to that particular charge but it’s odd that rape and criminal sexual assault somehow don’t also equate to predatory sexual assault.
Miriam Haley one of Weinstein’s key accusers told reporters she’s just relieved that he was punished at all, saying, “The statistics say that most rapists walk. ... It feels like we’re making progress.” It may be too soon to call Weinstein’s lesser convictions a wholesale victory, but certainly, it sets an important precedent for all future sexual assault cases.
When the judge announced the verdict, a shocked Weinstein is reported to have repeated three times “I didn’t rape anyone.” As much as the evidence convinces me that Weinstein is guilty, I also think his spontaneous outburst was genuine; I believe he doesn’t believe he raped anyone. After all, his money and power allowed him to operate inside a casting couch bubble throughout his career. And he took no notice of the cultural shifts which fostered heightened understanding that no means no, and that sexual assault begins when consent is ignored or refused.
On Wednesday, Judge James Burke will rule on Weinstein’s sentencing. He could get up to 29 years in prison and he is just about to turn 68 years old — so do the math. His legal team is lobbying for a lighter sentence and has already announced plans to appeal. He also still faces another trial in Los Angeles where prosecutors have charged him with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in two 2013 incidents.
Even if Weinstein is able to beat all or some of those charges as he did in New York, it is unlikely he’ll completely avoid any time in prison. Whatever happens, survivors can take some satisfaction knowing that the former producer will have a new role he won’t ever be able to escape — Harvey Weinstein, registered sex offender.
