Here’s What’s Next For Harvey Weinstein, Convicted Rapist

Harvey Weinstein was found guilty Monday on two counts of sexual assault after more than two years of explosive accusations kicked off a global movement against sexual misconduct. 

The revelations of the women who spoke out, finally pushing Weinstein’s abusive behavior out into the open, shattered his personal and professional life, drying up a once-vast sea of friends and allies. 

And Weinstein’s troubles are far from over.

Here’s what’s next for him.

Weinstein is looking at a stay in New York’s notorious Rikers Island facility. But right now he’s in a city hospital. 

Weinstein was put in custody of the New York Department of Corrections directly after his conviction, with Judge James Burke making note of his health concerns. 

En route to Rikers, however, Weinstein began experiencing anxiety and heart palpitations, Weinstein representative Juda Englemayer told HuffPost. The decision to bring him to Bellevue Hospital on Manhattan’s east side was made by medical personnel with the Department of Corrections, according to Englemayer. Weinstein has high blood pressure. 

Weinstein’s rep said the decision to keep him there instead of Rikers was up to the state. 

“I’m not going to mince words on it: He’s 67 years old, not in the greatest health to begin with, and now he’s experiencing sincere anxiety and fear of where he was going, and that contributed to his physical condition,” Englemayer said.

Defense attorney Donna Rotunno said Monday night that Weinstein was “fine” after being hospitalized.

During his trial, Weinstein’s health was front and center due to his use of a walker, which his defense attorneys said he needed after having back surgery late last year. 

If he gets to Rikers, he’ll probably be held in a special medical area.

Weinstein won’t have to fully experience Rikers, which is known for its violence and troubling record on human rights. (It’s scheduled to close due to those longstanding problems.)

Rikers’ medical area also provides additional protection for inmates who might be targets in the general population. If placed there, Weinstein might end up staying in a “double-size, private cell” with a TV, shower and possibly a phone, according to The New York Times.

Weinstein is expected to be sentenced on March 11.

Rikers is only meant to be a temporary holding center for inmates ― Weinstein is No. 3102000153. After sentencing, he will be moved to a state prison upstate. 

He faces a maximum sentence of nearly 30 years behind bars. Weinstein could get up to 25 years for forcibly performing oral sex on former production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haleyi in 2006, and up to four years for raping once-aspiring actor Jessica Mann in 2013.

His lawyers say they’re definitely appealing the verdict.

The defense loudly voiced a few different issues it has with Burke’s handling of the trial, any of which it could bring up on appeal.

From the start, Weinstein’s lawyers protested that the trial was beginning at the same time separate criminal charges against their client were announced by prosecutors in Los Angeles. They said the media coverage surrounding the new charges could affect the trial in New York. Once, they requested that Burke recuse himself ― which he declined to do ― after the judge reprimanded Weinstein for breaking a “no cell phones” rule in court.

The defense took particular issue with a juror who had written a book about predatory older men and teenage girls, and who posted an online review for the novel “My Dark Vanessa” during the trial. The book is also about the relationship between a teen girl and an older man who was her teacher. 

Finally, Weinstein still has criminal charges in Los Angeles to contend with.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Weinstein with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another woman over two days in 2013. A string of felony charges includes rape and sexual battery, among others.

The first alleged incident took place on Feb. 18, 2013, when the accuser ― an Italian actor ― maintains that Weinstein pushed his way inside her hotel room and sexually assaulted her after she attended a film festival with him earlier in the week. Weinstein is also accused of luring another woman to his Beverly Hills hotel room on Feb. 19, 2013, on the pretense of a business meeting. An acquaintance of Weinstein’s who accompanied them shut a door to prevent the woman from leaving while the producer allegedly groped her and masturbated.

Neither woman has been publicly named. 

Weinstein’s representative could not comment on the Los Angeles case, noting only that Weinstein was discussing it with his defense team.

Source link