After five days of deliberations following a highly publicized trial, movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been convicted on two of five charges brought against him in the state of New York — a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree — but acquitted on the most serious charges in the case, two counts of predatory sexual assault and one count of first-degree rape, which could have put him away for life.
The jury of 12 people — seven men and five women — presented their decision Monday morning after five days of much-scrutinized deliberations.
“Harvey Weinstein, the powerhouse film producer whose downfall over sexual misconduct ignited a global movement, was found guilty on Monday of a felony sex crime and rape after a trial in which six women testified that he had sexually assaulted them,” The New York Times reports. “But the jury acquitted Mr. Weinstein of the two top charges against him, predatory sexual assault.”
As explained by The Hollywood Reporter, in New York State, an individual “can be convicted of predatory sexual assault when a jury has determined that the person committed a first degree rape, criminal sexual act or aggravated sexual abuse against more than one other person.”
Weinstein faces up to 25 years in prison for the first-degree sexual assault conviction and up to four years for the third-degree rape conviction, Reuters reports.
The verdict followed a reported deadlock on the two most serious charges on Friday, but apparent unanimity on the three lesser charges: criminal sex act, first-degree rape, and third-degree rape. The jury ended up agreeing to convict him on two of the three lesser charges, a first-degree criminal sex act and third-degree rape.
“Mr. Weinstein sat between his lawyers looking straight ahead when it was announced that the jury had reached a verdict,” the Times reports. “Four court officers stood behind him, and Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, sat nearby in the front row of the courtroom.”
According to the Times, Wesintein “appeared unmoved as the verdict was read.”
“He was found not guilty on the two counts of predatory sexual assault, which suggests that one or some jurors did not believe the testimony of Annabella Sciorra, an actress best known for her work in ‘The Sopranos,'” the Times suggests.
The case against Weinstein in New York involved the accusations of two women: former television production assistant Miriam Haley, who testified that he forced oral sex on her in 2006 at his apartment in Manhattan, and former actress Jessica Mann, who accused him of raping her in 2013 in a hotel room in the city.
“Ms. Mann and Ms. Haley both acknowledged that they continued to see Mr. Weinstein after the alleged assaults and later had consensual sex with him, testimony that complicated the prosecution’s case,” the Times reports.
Four other women — Sciorra, Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff, and Lauren Young — were allowed to testify against Weinstein in the trial, though no charges were brought in connection to their claims.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Weinstein’s lawyers said they would accept a partial verdict on Friday, but the prosecutor leading the case rejected the offer, prompting Judge James Burke to order the jury to continue to deliberate.
While the New York case now awaits sentencing, Weinstein is the subject of another case in California, where a Los Angeles County jury is considering similar charges against him.
This article has been revised for clarity and expanded to include more details about the case.