Daily US Times, New York: Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual assault and rape.
Once Hollywood’s most powerful figures was found guilty in a trial in New York last month.
On Wednesday, he appeared in the court by a wheelchair.
His lawyers had appealed for leniency, saying even the minimum sentence of five years could be a “life sentence”, but prosecutors argued Weinstein should be given the maximum possible sentence given his “lifetime of abuse” towards women and “lack of remorse” for his actions.
After the court declared the sentences, one of his lawyers said Mr Weinstein was treated ‘unfairly’ and his lawyers have vowed to appeal against his conviction.
The 67-year-old addressed the court for the first time on Wednesday, saying he had “deep remorse” but described him and other men as “totally confused” by events in comments seen as critical to the #MeToo movement.
Since October 2017, dozens of women have come forward with allegations of rape and other sexual misconduct against Weinstein, but he has consistently denied wrongdoing.
These were the first charged to make it to trial. He still faces further criminal charges, for rape and sexual assault, in Los Angeles, where officials have started extradition proceedings.
A spokesman said, hours after his sentences were declared, he was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan with chest pains.
What was he convicted of?
Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of committing a first-degree criminal sexual act against production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. He also found guilty of the third-degree rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
The judges acquitted him of the most serious charges, of predatory sexual assault, which could have seen him given an even longer jail term.
All six women who testified against him during his trial sat together on Wednesday as he was sentenced and told to register as a sex offender.
Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years on sex crime convictions
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