Lawyers of Harvey Weinstein made a last-ditch plea to show mercy on the former producer, convicted of rape, ahead of his sentencing today.
Judge James Burke has been urged by Weinstein's defence to jail him for just five years, the shortest possible sentence, as opposed to the maximum term of 29 years, lamenting that "his fall from grace has been historic" and "unmatched in the age of social media", citing personal charitable giving, advanced age, medical issues and lack of a criminal history as reasons to show leniency.
"His wife divorced him, he was fired from The Weinstein Company, and in short, he lost everything," his lawyers said.
Conversely, prosecutors encouraged the judge to consider what they call four decades of sexual assaults against women for which he had never been charged.
In the end Weinstein was found guilty of attacks on two women: forcing oral sex on an assistant at his loft in 2006, and raping an aspiring actress at a hotel in 2013.
But, in a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors detailed 36 uncharged sex crimes and instances of sexual harassment they say Weinstein committed from 1978.
Joan Illuzzi, the lead prosecutor, urged the judge to impose a sentence that reflected Weinstein’s “total lack of remorse for the harm he has caused."
Remorseless is right. Recently sealed court documents show how Weinstein attempted to save his tattered reputation in the wake of allegations against him by the New York Times and New Yorker in 2017.
He wrote to more than influential contacts, including Michael Bloomberg and Jeff Bezos, asking for letters of support in a desperate bid to save his job. In another email, Weinstein said that actress Jennifer Aniston, who he believed had complained about him, should be killed.
But the most nauseating discovery was the catalogue of drafted PR statements.
Unapologetic, self-pitying and condescending, he worked tirelessly to find ways to invoke sympathy for himself.
“Three months ago I could never say the following words, nor even think them to myself: I’m an addict. I’m a sex addict. I’m an anger addict. To medicate, I comfort myself with bad food. My mind sees despair. My body has trauma. Vets tell me I have PTSD,” said one draft statement, dated December 2017. “Doctors tell me I’m lucky to be alive … but lucky is not how I feel. I have only despair. I have lost my family. I have daughters that will not talk to me. I have lost my wife. I have lost the respect of my ex-wife and generally almost all of my friends. I have no company. I’m alone.”“I will be honest with you: I’m suicidal.” this missive said.
“The #MeToo movement is powerful. Hurtful, but deserved. I read what Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, and so many others have written. While there are two sides to these stories, truthfully, I don’t know how to tell it without being crucified,” the statement said. “There’s a difference between assault and womanizing. There’s a difference between assault and cheating.”
Noting that the life expectancy of someone Weinstein’s age is about 12 years, his lawyers have argued the judge to consider the "grave reality" that a term longer than five years “is likely to constitute a de facto life sentence.”
Well, good riddance. Weinstein showed his victims no mercy and I hope the judge repays him in kind.
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