HOSPITAL DASH
Harvey Weinstein rushed to hospital with ‘chest pains’ on the way to jail following rape verdict
HARVEY Weinstein was rushed to hospital with chest pains after being told he faces up to 29 years in jail for rape and sexual assault.
The movie producer, 67, wailed 'I'm innocent. How can this happen in America?' after being found guilty on two of five charges against him in his landmark #MeToo trial.
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The disgraced movie mogul was later pictured leaving the New York court in an ambulance in what was described as a 'precautionary measure'.
Weinstein was convicted of criminal sexual act in the first degree against production assistant Mimi Haleyi and rape in the third degree against aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
The two charges carry a combined maximum 29-year sentence and a minimum of at least five years behind bars.
Weinstein’s fall from Oscar-winner to convicted rapist was complete when he was handcuffed and taken to New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail, before sentencing on March 11.
He appeared unwilling to get out of his seat in court, before officers placed him in cuffs and led him away – ditching the Zimmer frame he had used throughout the trial.
Afterwards, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said: “Weinstein is a vicious, serial sexual predator who used his power to threaten, rape, assault and trick, humiliate and silence his victims.
“This is the new landscape for survivors of sexual assault in America. It is a new day because Harvey Weinstein has finally been held accountable for crimes he committed.
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“Weinstein with his manipulation, his resources, his attorneys, his publicists and his spies did everything he could to silence to survivors.
“These are eight women who hauled our justice system into the 21st century, by declaring that rape is rape, sexual assault is sexual assault, no matter what.
“Rape is rape, whether it is committed by a stranger in a dark alley or by an intimate partner, in a working relationship.
“Rape is rape whether by a homeless person or by a man with immense power and prestige and privilege. Rape is rape whether it is reported in an hour, or a year, or never.
“It’s rape despite the complicated dynamics of power and consent. It’s rape even if there is no physical evidence, and even if it happened a long time ago.”
Former Miramax boss Weinstein had been found not guilty of the most serious charges of predatory sexual assault – which carried life sentences – following his historic trial.
#METOO MOVEMENT
For three weeks, New York Supreme Court heard evidence from a series of women who accused ‘Shakespeare In Love’ producer Weinstein of rape and sexual assault.
But the five charges rested on the testimonies of three women – Haleyi, Mann and former Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra.
Haleyi testified that Weinstein invited her to his Manhattan home in 2006 and then backed her into a bedroom and forcibly performed oral sex on her – after yanking out her tampon.
The production assistant, who moved from Finland to London aged 19, said that the film producer left her feeling “numb”.
Through tears, she said: “I expressed the entire time I just said no, no, I don’t want this to happen this is not going to happen. I was just trying to tell him to stop.”
Mann said that soon after meeting Weinstein she began an “extremely degrading” relationship, before he raped her in a New York hotel room in 2013.
She described Weinstein as a “Jekyll and Hyde” figure - charming in public but often showing terrifying anger when they were alone.
Chillingly, Mann, who had a panic attack in the court room after tearfully giving evidence, said the word ‘no’ was like a “trigger” for him.
Other women - including actress Sciorra - were allowed to testify in court to bolster Haleyi and Mann’s accounts.
Sciorra claimed that Weinstein raped her at her apartment in the winter of 1993 to 1994.
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Her evidence was used by prosecutors, along with that of Haleyi and Mann, to construct two counts of predatory sexual assault against Weinstein – which carried life sentences.
Weinstein’s legal team, led by his fierce lawyer Donna Rotunno, argued that the producer had only ever had consensual sex with the women.
But the jurors chose to believe prosecutor Ms Illuzzi, who presented Weinstein as a violent sexual predator.
She said Weinstein showed “a wanton lack of human empathy” over decades, abusing a series of aspiring actresses and producers.
Ms Illuzzi said: “He had a sure-fire insurance policy - the victims were standing in line to get into his universe.
“Therefore, they don't get to complain when they are stepped on, spit on, demoralized and raped and abused by the defendant.”
She said the case was all about “power, manipulation and abuse”, adding: “The defendant didn't have to trick women into his lair.
“There are professional sex workers you can get without tricking them into your lair, but maybe his kink was the fear in their eyes.”
Ms Illuzzi argued that the six women “no motive to lie”.
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She said: “They sacrificed their dignity and privacy and peace for the prospect of having that voice heard.”
After almost one week of deliberations, jurors rejected the two predatory sexual assault charges, but convicted Weinstein on the two counts against Haleyi and Mann.
They convicted Weinstein of rape in the third degree against Mann – finding him not guilty of the more serious charge of rape in the first degree.
As the verdict was read out the court filled with 16 armed security officers - four of whom stood behind Weinstein and to the side.
One male member of the jury could be seen with his head in his hands, while the foreman’s hand shook as he held up the verdict sheet.
Weinstein, wearing a navy-blue suit, sat and stared impassively as the verdicts were read.
Ms Illuzzi then requested that Weinstein be remanded in custody.
She said that he “stands to do 25 years in jail” on the criminal sexual act and “four years max” on the third-degree rape.
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, who never took the stand during his trial, denied the five charges against him, which include allegations of rape and sexual assault before today's verdict.
Weinstein's lawyer Donna Rotunno had asked that he remain on the “same conditions as bail” wearing an ankle monitor so his “whereabouts are known at all times”.
She said he had made “absolutely zero attempts to flee” and that he had “significant medical issues”.
Rotunno said that he was “under the care of five doctors” and that his recent back operation was not a success.
Weinstein is having “shots in his eyes so he does not go blind”, Rotunno added.
But Judge James Burke said: “Remand. Wednesday March 11 for sentence.”
Rotunno asked that Weinstein be put in the medical unit of the prison where he is being sent to – which the judge said was “tantamount to protective custody”.
More than 80 women came forward to accuse him of sexual assault and rape since The New York Times and The New Yorker published exposes in October 2017.
The allegations fueled the #MeToo movement, in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct.
He was finally arrested in May 2018.
His trial was watched by a packed courtroom, with 60 reporters from around the world, plus legal figures including women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred.
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Weinstein also been charged with sex crimes by prosecutors in LA and faces a second trial and up to 28 years in jail.
He sat in the well of the court going through the pages line by line, underlining parts and writing in the margin.
Weinstein's legal team vowed Monday to appeal his conviction – saying the mogul was “disappointed” with the verdict but was “mentally tough”.
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Harvey Weinstein described as a 'vicious serious sexual predator' by New York DA as he's found guilty of third degree rape
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