After six women said in trial testimony that film producer Harvey Weinstein had sexually assaulted them, a jury found the movie mogul guilty on Monday of committing a sex crime and felony rape, according to The New York Times. Jurors did, however, find Weinstein not guilty of more consequential charges of predatory sexual assault and rape in the first degree.
Jessica Mann, whose statement, along with that of Miriam Haley, was essential in the indictment against Weinstein, testified that the megaproducer raped her in a Manhattan hotel room after injecting himself with medication to facilitate an erection, the Times reported. Haley, a former production assistant, testified that Weinstein performed oral sex on her against her will at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree against Mann and committing a criminal sexual act against Haley, CNN reported. His publicist Juda Engelmayer told the news network, “An attorney is already heading to the appellate court (to file an appeal).”
In a case that fueled a #MeToo movement of sexual assault survivors going public with their stories, more than 79 women publicly accused Weinstein of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or rape, according to a May 2018 report by the Los Angeles Times.
They include actresses: Ashley Judd, Amber Anderson, Lysette Anthony, Asia Argento, Rosanna Arquette, Jessica Barth, Kate Beckinsale, Cynthia Burr, Liza Campbell, Marisa Coughlan, Emma de Caunes, Florence Darel, Paz de la Huerta, Cara Delevingne, Lacey Dorn, Dawn Dunning, Alice Evans, Angie Everhart, Claire Forlani, Romola Garai, Louisette Geiss, Judith Godrèche, Larissa Gomes, Heather Graham, Eva Green, Daryl Hannah, Salma Hayek, Lena Headey, Natasha Henstridge, Lauren Holly, Dominique Huett, Angelina Jolie, Minka Kelly, Katherine Kendall, Heather Kerr, Mia Kirshner, Liz Kouri, Natassia Malthe, Brit Marling, Sarah Ann Masse, Rose McGowan, Connie Nielsen, Kadian Noble, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vu Thu Puong, Tomi-Ann Roberts, Erika Rosenbaum, Melissa Sagemiller, Annabella Sciorra, Léa Seydoux, Chelsea Skidmore, Mira Sorvino, Lucia Stoller, Tara Subkoff, Uma Thurman, Lisa Esco, and Sean Young.
They include former employees: Hope Exiner d’Amore, Laura Madden, Emily Nestor, Lisa Rose, and Ivanna Lowell.
They include models: Zoë Brock, Juliana De Paula, Trish Goff, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, Samantha Panagrosso, and Paula Williams.
They include: screenwriter Sophie Dix; production assistant Mimi Haleyi; former production assistant Paula Wachowiak; dancer Ashley Matthau; TV host Katya Mtsitouridze; former assistants Lauren O’Connor and Zelda Perkins; filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom; nonprofit director Louise Godbold; and massage therapist Juls Bindi.
Judd went public with accusations against Weinstein in 2017, when her story was the first The New York Times featured in its investigation of the now-convicted rapist. “For the women who testified in this case, and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere, thank you,” Judd tweeted about the verdict Monday.