Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape at his Los Angeles trial

Harvey Weinstein, at a time of his trial held in Los Angeles. ETIENNE LAURENT (AP)

Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty in the land that he once ruled.

After more than nine days of deliberations, the jury of a Los Angeles court has added to the black history of the former producer, who has become a symbol of the Me Too movement.

Weinstein has been found guilty of rape and two other charges of sexual harassment.

There was no agreement necessary to reach a guilty verdict on the charges of two other women, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of the governor of California.

Weinstein was cleared of another charge.

Who was a famous and powerful actor in the film industry will know his sentence at the beginning of 2023. Everything indicates that he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Weinstein, 70 years old and with various health problems, arrived on the West Coast in the summer of 2020 to face two accusations of rape and another five of sexual abuse made by four filmmakers.

They testified on the bench about the events, which occurred between 2005 and 2013. Throughout the four weeks of the trial, a jury made up of eight men and four women heard the testimonies of 49 witnesses, all except five women.

The victims explained the

of the sexual predator.

On his back was already weighing a sentence of 23 years in prison, obtained in New York.

The US legal system requires that he serve his sentence first in the east.

When this runs out he will be transferred back to California to serve his sentence.

The judge has declared three processes null and void.

Despite deliberating in nine days over two weeks, the jury was unable to agree on the evidence offered in the cases of three women.

This despite the fact that the prosecutors had stated at the close of the trial that they offered “irrefutable and overwhelming evidence about the nature of this man”.

Weinstein's defense denied several of the events described and others described them as consensual sexual encounters.

The prosecution sought to prove the repeated tactic with which Weinstein set up his victims.

The first victim who shared her story was a Russian model, who was in Los Angeles in February 2013 to participate in an Italian film festival.

The victim reported it in October 2017, when

began to air the producer's behavior

The model assured that he arrived at her room without having been invited.

She there she raped her.

“I felt very guilty with myself.

Mainly for having opened that door,” she told the court.

This Monday, the jury agreed with the model and has determined that Weinstein is guilty of the charge of rape, another for forcing oral sex and another for harassment.

The defendant, who moves with the help of a walker, did not take his eyes off the table for the first few minutes in which the verdict that found him guilty was read.

His new sentence can reach 24 years in prison.

Lauren Young, a model who aspires to become an actress, was the only woman to testify in the trials against Weinstein in New York and Los Angeles.

In her testimony, she claimed that the producer locked her in a hotel bathroom in Beverly Hills, where he groped her and masturbated in front of her.

Her words did not convince everyone in the jury, except two people, for which reason the process was declared null and void.

The same has happened with the case of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, a star of the Democratic party.

Her testimony was one of the most anticipated during the trial.

And also one of the most dramatic.

The documentary filmmaker herself described how she met the film producer at a Toronto film festival party in 2005. Weinstein showed great interest in a 31-year-old actress, who had not yet met Newsom, then the mayor of San Francisco.

Weinstein sought her out upon his return to Los Angeles.

He stopped by her house to give her a book by the legendary MGM producer, Louis B Mayer.

He met her the next day at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

"You don't say no to Harvey Weinstein (...) because he can make or destroy your career," Siebel, who is now 47 years old, said at the trial.

The actress then thought that the date was going to be at the bar, but an assistant to the filmmaker took her to a suite where the producer was, who showed little interest in the projects she was proposing.

Siebel said Weinstein got up from the couch and went into another room.

Minutes later, he called her for help.

She found him in the bathroom.

He was masturbating, she testified.

He pulled her up and tried to get her to take his penis.

"I only remember that she physically tried to back off, I told her several times 'no, please,'" the victim said.

After 45 minutes of struggling, he forced her into a room where he entered her and performed oral sex on her, according to her testimony.

Siebel admitted under oath that she exchanged some friendly emails with Weinstein after the violent episode, which she recounted, pausing several times to cry and take deep breaths as she recounted the story.

Although the jury did not consider the fact proven and was divided 8-4, Siebel celebrated the result of the judicial process.

“Harvey Weinstein will never rape a woman again.

He will spend the rest of his days behind bars, where he belongs," the first lady of California said in a statement.