Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape in Los Angeles sex assault trial
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A Los Angeles jury has found disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein guilty on three of seven counts, including rape, in his Los Angeles sexual assault trial.
The jury found Weinstein not guilty on one count, and it was hung on three counts.
The jury will return Tuesday to hear arguments on special findings.
Weinstein initially faced 11 counts in the trial, but four charges relating to Jane Doe No. 5, including two counts of forcible rape and two counts of forcible oral copulation, were dropped by the prosecution.
The 70-year-old former movie executive pleaded not guilty and has said all of the encounters were consensual.
The four women all testified during the trial, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Siebel Newsom was referred to as Jane Doe No. 4 during the trial, but she has been publicly identified by her lawyer.
The jury took some 40 hours over 10 days to reach their decision.
The trial in Los Angeles came 2 1/2 years after Weinstein was found guilty of similar crimes in New York City, a landmark decision after the so-called #MeToo movement, in which powerful men were exposed for sexual misconduct, began largely around bombshell reports about the Miramax founder’s behavior in The New York Times and The New Yorker in fall 2017.
Weinstein is already serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for criminal sexual assault and third-degree rape.
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