Harvey Weinstein, 67, has been sentenced to 23 years in prison after being found guilty of rape in the third degree and of criminal sexual assault in the first degree.
Weinstein was wheeled into the courtroom and before the sentencing, said he had "deep remorse," according to Variety. The outlet also reports that he pushed back at the #MeToo movement.
"I am totally confused," he said. "I think men are confused about all of this…this feeling of thousands of men and women who are losing due process, I’m worried about this country."
The court's sentencing comes two weeks after a jury determined his fate in a sexual assault trial, during which he was facing two counts of rape, one count of criminal sexual act and two counts of predatory sexual assault after being accused of raping one woman in 2013 and forcing oral sex on a production assistant named Mimi Haleyi in 2006.
Following the verdict, he was remanded to jail until sentencing. However, the former Hollywood mogul was redirected from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital, where he ended up undergoing heart surgery. He has since been placed in Rikers, where he continues to recover. He entered court on Wednesday in a wheelchair.
Weinstein’s health was part of the reasoning his defense team used in a letter sent to Judge James Burke to give him a minimum sentence of five years. In addition to his recent heart issues, Weinstein is still recovering from back surgery following a car crash last summer, which has required him to use a walker when entering and leaving the courtroom during his trial.
“Age is also a factor that militates against heavily weighting the need for deterrence,” reads the letter signed by lawyers Damon Cheronis, Donna Rotunno and Arthur Aidala, arguing that anything over five years may be a de facto life sentence. “The grave reality is that Mr. Weinstein may not even outlive that term.”
While the New York trial has drawn to a close, Weinstein’s legal troubles are far from over. In January, on the first day of the Manhattan proceedings, Los Angeles prosecutors announced new charges of “raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents back in 2013” against the disgraced mogul.
“We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit violent crimes against them,” L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. If convicted, he faces up to 28 years in prison. Weinstein has maintained that his sexual encounters with the women were consensual and pleaded not guilty to those charges.
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