Harvey Weinstein found guilty of third-degree rape, criminal sex act
Former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of two out of five charges against him. The third-degree rape and criminal sex act charges could send him to prison for up to 25 years.
Caitlin Dulany, who previously accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her, says the news of the disgraced movie mogul’s guilty verdict was a long time coming.
“Today, I have a renewed sense of justice and faith that we as a society can change and we can right the wrongs of the past,” the actress told Fox News exclusively. “This is the reckoning for Harvey Weinstein that I hoped it would be and as it should be. This is a man who seemed impervious to the law for so many years and hid behind his social and economic status."
The former Hollywood producer, 67, was found guilty by a Manhattan jury Monday of two of five charges relating to sexual assaults and faces as many as 25 years in prison.
Dulany, 52, described Monday as “a day of victory” for the women who suffered at the hands of the once-feared producer.
“Today is a victory for all the women who have been brave enough to go on record about their assaults by Harvey Weinstein and I am particularly grateful to the brave women who testified in this case,” she shared. “These were the worst moments of all of our lives and for them to relive the trauma, the shame and the fear that accompanied their assaults and the aftermath takes courage and determination.”
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Actress Caitlin Dulany (Photo by Earl Gibson III/WireImage)
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“It was their testimony that put Harvey Weinstein behind bars and I am forever grateful and in awe of their courage and moral fortitude,” Dulany added.
Still, the star noted how the verdict followed weeks of often harrowing and excruciatingly graphic testimony from victims who spoke of rapes, forced oral sex, groping, masturbation and lewd propositions.
“I am devastated by what the women who took the stand were put through,” she said. “This has to change. The absolute character assassination of women who come forward, the way victims of assault are painted as liars, their morality challenged and their choices attacked — this has to stop.”
“Assault is a violent act and women have no choice when they are assaulted and they always have the right to say no, no matter the circumstances,” Dulany continued. “And with this trial, once again, the emotional and psychological cost of the abuser's wrongs were borne by the women, by the victims. We have to do better as a society and I, and we, the silence breakers, won’t rest until we do.”
Dulany also pointed out that Weinstein’s downfall in Hollywood is far from over.
Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse for jury deliberations in his rape trial, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
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“I can tell you this, as this case moves to Los Angeles, we won’t stop fighting for justice for all of the women that were harmed by Harvey Weinstein and for all survivors,” she said. “I’m proud of our community of survivors who have fought this battle in New York with so much bravery and determination and the fight will continue in LA. We are brave, we are determined and we are silent no longer.”
Dulany accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in a room at the Hotel du Cap in Cannes, France, in 1996, the New York Times reported.
Weinstein was found guilty of a criminal sex act for assaulting production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006 and third-degree rape of a woman in 2013. The jury found him not guilty on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault, which could have resulted in a life sentence. He was ordered to jail by the judge immediately after the conviction.
The jury of seven men and five women handed down the verdict on Monday after five days of deliberating.
Weinstein has maintained any sexual encounters were consensual. Sentencing was set for March 11.
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In this Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020 file photo, actress Annabella Sciorra returns after a lunch break in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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The case against Weinstein was built on three allegations: that he raped an aspiring actress in a New York City hotel room in 2013, that he forcibly performed oral sex on Haleyi and that he raped and forcibly performed oral sex on "Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra in her apartment in the mid-1990s.
The case marks the only criminal trial to stem from the many accusations that came out about Weinstein following a bombshell expose written by Ronan Farrow in 2017 in which 13 women accused the now-disgraced movie mogul of sexual assault.
Since the bombshell reports made by the New York Times and The New Yorker, dozens of women have come forward with claims against Weinstein.
More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of inappropriate to criminal behavior, from intimidating sexual advances to rape over the years. Weinstein has denied the accusations.
Rumors about Weinstein’s behavior swirled in Hollywood circles for a long time, but he managed to silence many accusers with payoffs, nondisclosure agreements and the constant fear that he could crush their careers if they spoke out.
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Miramax Films executive Harvey Weinstein (3rd L) and actress Gwyneth Paltrow (3R) w. producers of Shakespeare in Love holding their Oscars in Press Room at Academy Awards. (Getty)
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Weinstein was finally arrested and led away in handcuffs in May 2018, seven months after The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed his alleged misconduct in stories that would win the Pulitzer Prize.
Weinstein, the product of a working-class family from Queens, achieved success at two movie studios he created with his brother Bob: Miramax — named for their parents, Miriam and Max — and then the Weinstein Co.
The Weinstein Co. went bankrupt after his disgrace. A tentative settlement was reached last year to resolve nearly all lawsuits stemming from the scandal. It would pay Weinstein's alleged victims about $25 million. Under the proposed deal, Weinstein would not have to admit any wrongdoing or personally pay anything; the studio's insurance companies would cover the cost.
Weinstein’s efforts to silence his accusers and thwart journalists who sought to expose his secrets included hiring Black Cube, an Israeli spy agency staffed by former Mossad agents. Asked one day as he left court why he hired that firm, Weinstein turned to a reporter and said: “For days like this.”
Fox News’ Sasha Savitsky, Tyler McCarthy, Marta Dhanis and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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