Photo credit: Getty / Spencer Platt
Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Wednesday following his rape and sexual assault conviction. The sentence includes 20 years for criminal sexual assault in the first degree and three years for rape in the third degree. Both stem from the accusations of Mimi Haley, former “Project Runway” production assistant and Jessica Mann. The sentences are to be served consecutively.
“We thank the court for imposing a sentence that puts sexual predators and abusive partners in all segments of society on notice,” District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said in a statement. “We thank the survivors for their indescribable courage over the last two years. Harvey Weinstein deployed nothing less than an army of spies to keep them silent. But they refused to be silent, and they were heard. Their words took down a predator and put him behind bars, and gave hope to survivors of sexual violence all across the world.”
According to CNN, Weinstein’s defense attorneys were requesting for him to be given the minimum for his first-degree criminal sexual act conviction because of his “personal charitable giving, advanced age, medical issues and lack of criminal history.”
Juda Engelmayer, who works for Weinstein’s team mentioned that Weinstein was discouraged and “not doing well” after getting convicted earlier this month. She refused to comment about anything having to do with the numerous amounts of unpublished internal correspondences that resurfaced from 2017.