Harvey Weinstein gets 16 years in jail

Harvey Weinstein gets 16 years in jail!

Harvey Weinstein, 70, the onetime Hollywood titan and co-founder of Miramax Films will serve the sentence after completing his 23-year sentence for a sexual misconduct conviction in New York.

The disgraced US film producer was sentenced on Thursday to 16 years in prison for the 2013 rape of an actress in Los Angeles.

Weinstein was sentenced in a Los Angeles courtroom, where a jury in December found him guilty of rape.

The charges stemmed from an assault on a former model and actress, identified in court as Jane Doe 1, at a Los Angeles hotel in Feb 2013.

Sentencing Weinstein, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench announced that Weinstein could not serve the California and New York sentence concurrently.

The producer of Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love and other successful independent films, has said all of his sexual encounters had been consensual, and he pleaded not guilty in the Los Angeles case.

“This is a made-up story. Jane Doe 1 is an actress. She can turn the tears on,” Weinstein told the court, calling the case against him a “set-up” before learning his fate.

“Please don’t sentence me to life in prison. I don’t deserve it. There are so many things wrong with this case.

“There are too many loopholes. Too many things wrong with this case,” he said and added: “I beg your mercy.”

Allegations against Weinstein ignited the #MeToo movement, which has encouraged women to speak out about sexual harassment and abuse by powerful men in media, politics and other endeavours.

The #MeToo movement, which went viral on social media in 2017, seeks to break a culture of silence that has long allowed such conduct to go unchallenged.

On the other hand, Juda Engelmayer, a spokesman for Weinstein, termed the sentence cruel given his age and poor health.

“There are many out there who will celebrate this action, but it is a sad day for justice and fairness, and I hope no one who is pleased with this is ever caught on the wrong side of cancel culture while hopelessly and voicelessly proclaiming innocence,” Engelmayer told NBC News