NewzNEW YORK (AP) — The first time Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to prison, reporters, advocates and the curious public crammed the courtroom to witness the disgraced Hollywood honcho’s #MeToo reckoning.Hours later, the world began shutting down as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. Now, after an overturned conviction and two retrials, Weinstein is set to be sentenced again on Wednesday for one of the same crimes — more than six years after his first sentencing in March 2020.Weinstein, 74, faces up to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a one-time TV production assistant, Miriam Haley, at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. He has already served more than six years as his case has cycled again and again through the criminal justice system.
Haley gave her account of the assault at two trials and spoke again Wednesday just before Weinstein was to be sentenced.“The powerlessness of my situation at the time made me feel incredibly insecure and unsure of how to navigate it,” Haley told the courtroom, tearing up as she detailed the public scrutiny she has endured.“I’ve been further traumatized in exercising my right to hold him accountable. All of this traces back to his actions,” she said, adding that she thought about ending her pursuit of justice many times.The Oscar-winning “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” producer was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury convicted him of assaulting Haley and raping an aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, in 2013.But New York’s highest court erased those guilty verdicts in 2024, ruling that Weinstein was prejudiced by testimony from other women whose allegations weren’t part of the case.Tried for a second time last year, Weinstein was again convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act for assaulting Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi. In a messy split verdict, the jury acquitted him of forcibly performing oral sex on another woman, Kaja Sokola, and could not reach a verdict on a rape charge involving Mann.After another retrial ended in a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the rape charge rather than pursue a fourth trial after Mann said she could not bear to testify again.That decision cleared the way for Weinstein’s sentencing.Manhattan prosecutors have said they will ask for 20 years in prison — which would keep him behind bars until at least his late 80s.Weinstein’s lawyers haven…
Hours later, the world began shutting down as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. Weinstein, 74, faces up to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a one-time TV production assistant, Miriam Haley, at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. Haley gave her account of the assault at two trials.
“The unthinkable was happening,” Haley testified last year, dabbing her eyes. Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi, is planning to speak at Weinstein’s sentencing, her lawyer, Gloria Allred, said. Weinstein will also address the court, his spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, said.
The Oscar-winning “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” producer was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury convicted him of assaulting Haley and raping an aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, in 2013. But New York’s highest court erased those guilty verdicts in 2024, ruling that Weinstein was prejudiced by testimony from other women whose allegations weren’t part of the case. Tried for a second time last year, Weinstein was again convicted of first-degree criminal sex act for assaulting Haley.
After another retrial ended in a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the rape charge rather than pursue a fourth trial after Mann said she could not bear to testify again. That decision cleared the way for Weinstein’s sentencing. Manhattan prosecutors have said they will ask for 20 years in prison — which would keep him behind bars until at least his late 80s.
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