Ex Movie Mogul Harvey Weinstein Sentenced to Prison for 2013 Rape

LOS ANGELES -- Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for sexually assaulting a model-actress in a Los Angeles hotel room about a decade ago.

Weinstein, 70, was convicted Dec. 19 of one count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object occurring on or about Feb. 18, 2013, on a woman identified only as Jane Doe No. 1.

Jurors deadlocked on a charge of sexual battery by restraint involving an alleged attack in February 2013 against Jane Doe No. 2 and counts of fforcible oral copulation and forcible rape involving an alleged attack in 2005 on Jane Doe No. 4 -- the latter of whom has been publicly identified by her attorney as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The jury acquitted Weinstein of a felony charge of sexual battery by restraint involving an alleged attack on a masseuse -- Jane Doe No. 3 -- in 2010, but deadlocked on a lesser count involving the same woman. The judge noted that the misdemeanor count was not charged, and the prosecution said in December that it didn't intend to move forward involving that alleged victim.

Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench denied a defense motion for a new trial before handing down her sentence.

Weinstein addressed the court prior to sentencing, insisting he is innocent and was the victim of a ``setup.''

``I never knew this woman, and the fact is she doesn't know me,'' he said. ``This is about money.''

One of Weinstein's attorneys, Mark Werksman, said he planned to file an immediate appeal of his client's conviction and sentence.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that Weinstein used his position as one of Hollywood's most successful movie producers to gain access to and sexually assault women.

Weinstein -- whom Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez had earlier called a ``titan of the film industry'' -- engaged in ``despicable behavior'' and made sure that the alleged victims knew he ``could destroy them,'' the prosecutor said in her closing argument. Martinez told jurors that
Weinstein used his power to prey on and silence women. She called him a ``predator,'' and said none of the women making accusations against Weinstein knew each other.

The producer did not testify in his own defense.

In their motion for a new trial, defense attorneys argued that evidence involving Jane Doe No. 1 -- the victim in the three counts on which he was convicted -- was wrongly excluded from the trial and that the jury was not properly instructed.

Deputy District Attorneys Paul Thompson and Marlene Martinez wrote in a court filing last week that Weinstein is serving a 23-year prison sentence for his convictions for sexually assaulting two women in New York and called his attack on Jane Doe No. 1 ``part of a larger, decades-long pattern.''

Weinstein's sentence in Los Angeles will be served consecutively to his sentence in the New York case.

-- City News Service