Over 90 women made allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, but just six testified against the former Hollywood giant in a trial that featured little physical evidence and allegations dating back decades.
Yet yesterday morning in New York, after five days of deliberation, and a jury of seven men and five women caught in a deadlock, Weinstein was found guilty on two charges.
The jurors convicted Weinstein of third-degree rape (when a person engages in nonconsensual sex) of the actor Jessica Mann in 2013 and a criminal sex act in the first degree, in which he forced oral sex on Miriam Haleyi, a former production assistant, in 2006.
However, Weinstein was aquitted of more serious charges: two predatory sexual assult charges and an another count of rape in the first degree. The rape case was brought by The Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra, who testified as a ‘prior bad act case’, designed to show a pattern of Weinstein’s behaviour. Led away in handcuffs, Weinstein will now await sentencing on 11 March from jail. He faces up to 29 years behind bars.
The wittnesses faced Weinstein’s lead attorney, Donna Rotunno, a woman who has made a career out of defending men charged with sexual assault crimes. Under her cross-examination, she induced one accuser into a panic attack and members of the jury were said to be seen shaking their heads at the viciousness of her questioning. Her team’s strategy was to suggest that the real victim is, in fact, Harvey Weinstein. He couldn’t have a fair trial, she claimed, and as she made clear in a recent interview with Megan Twohey, one of The New York Times journalists who broke the Weinstein story, that if a woman willingingly goes to a hotel room with a powerful man, that is her choice and therefore his actions are her responsibility. When asked by Twohey if she’d ever been sexaully assaulted herself, Rotunno responded ‘I have not’ before adding: ‘Because I would never put myself in that position.’ The defense was an aggressive offense in victim blaming.
For survivors, I hope there is a degree of comfort in the conviction, a message of support and validation.
The prosecution met Rotunno with the radical attempt to educate the jury on the conflicting behaviours of sexual-assault victims with their attackers. The prosecutors brought in Barbara Ziv, a psychiatrist who testified in the Bill Cosby trial, who gave a presentaiton on ‘rape myths’ and said it was ‘the norm’ for suvivors to have contact with the assailant. Previously, cases in which the accuser maintained a friendly relationship with the accused would have been written off by lawyers for being too problematic for a jury, too hard to win. Weinstien’s case, therefore, may be a precedent for reframing how courts understand victims of these crimes. The prosecution also drummed home the behaviours of the abuser. Journalist Ed Pilkington, who was in court, wrote, ‘what will stick in the mind of many of those people who sat through the trial...was the terrifying violence of the attacks.’ Miriram Haleyi testified how Wienstein pulled out her tampon before forcing oral sex.
‘This trial is not a referendum on the #MeToo movement,’ judge James Burke told jurors. The legal mechanics demand jurors respond to only the cases presented to them. Yet, for many outside the courtroom, this was a litmus test for what weight the movement actually had. And if the life-changing agony of speaking up is ever really worth it. Many women dared to not even hope.
The reaction to the convictions has been mixed. Ashley Judd, the first actor to make an on-the-record allegations tweeted: ‘I am thinking about how it took 90 women coming forward for two guilty convictions....’ Rose McGowan said at a press conference: ‘Today is not a referendum on #MeToo. This is about taking out the trash.’ While Moira Donegan, a US feminist journalist, tweeted: ‘Weinstein was not convicted because the system worked. He was convicted because #MeToo put pressure on those in power to do the right thing.’ Mostly, there has been an outpouring of admiration for the #silencebreakers - the women who had to leave their homes and lose their jobs in order to go up against their abuser.
Since the story of Weinstein broke in 2017, thousands have shared their own stories, all with the collective goal to overthrow a society infected with a systematic abuse of power and exploitation of the vulnerable. Knowing that Weinstein will face prison is an important part of this revolution. He has become the embodiment of the bullying, abusive, untouchable man, a type far too many of us have known. His conviction, to some extent, is a victory for us all. The once unthinkable reality that a man like Weinstein can be held accountable for his actions, and the sadly still radical act of believing women, has been supported in a court of law. I doubt Weinstein’s punishment will fit the crime (how possibly could it?) but for #MeToo, this is the first stake in the ground.
Last night, it was confirmed that Los Angeles prosecutors will go ahead with the further four charges of sexual assault after his sentencing. But what now? For his victims, I sincerely hope it brings a sense of justice and peace. For survivors, I hope there is a degree of comfort in the conviction, a message of support and validation. For the rest of us, I hope we remember there’s strength in numbers, that grass roots movements can, and do, work. But that we don’t forget to salute those who were courageous enough to break the silence first.
Often I wonder how many times men and women shrugged their shoulders at Weinstein’s behaviour, the open secret that everyone knew of and nobody believed they could do anything about.
That was, of course, until a few very brave women thought otherwise.
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