Harvey Weinstein Trial: Guilty On 2 Counts, Not Guilty Of More Serious Charges
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Harvey Weinstein, once considered the most powerful man in Hollywood, has been convicted of felony sex crimes.
After five days of deliberations, the jury found Weinstein guilty of third degree rape and criminal sexual act, but acquitted him of three other counts, including the most serious: Predatory sexual assault.
Weinstein showed little emotion when the verdict was read, but seemed stunned when he lead out of the courtroom in handcuffs. He was not allowed to take the walker he's been using since the trial began. It was wheeled out of the courtroom after he was taken away.
Weinstein was supposed to go to Rikers Island, but instead taken by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital after complaining of chest pains, sources told CBS2.
WATCH: Manhattan DA Cy Vance Reacts To Weinstein Verdict
The packed courtroom was mostly silent as the verdict was read, reported CBS2's Alice Gainer. Fifteen court officers lined the perimeter with three of them surrounding Weinstein, so it was hard to see his reaction at that moment, Gainer reported.
After the verdict was read, the courtroom remained silent as the words were digested by all. Harvey Weinstein is now a convicted rapist.
If Weinstein was nervous about a verdict, he didn't show it when he arrived at court Monday morning. Reporters asked him if was able to get any sleep over the weekend.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN TRIAL
- Legal Expert Breaks Down Verdict
- What It Means For #MeToo
- New York Charges Explained
- A Look Back At The Case
- Complete Coverage
About two hours later, he was put into handcuffs and carted off.
"We the jury have reached a verdict" read the note to the judge around 11:30 a.m.
The verdict: Not guilty of the most serious charge against him -- predatory sexual assault -- and not guilty of rape in the first degree. But he was found guilty of criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
"He didn't cry. He didn't break down. He wasn't sobbing. He was more in a state of disbelief," said Weinstein attorney Arthur Aidala. "He just kept repeating 'But I'm innocent. But I'm innocent.'"
READ: Transcript Of Harvey Weinstein Verdict
"Weinstein is a vicious serial sexual predator who used his power to threaten, rape assault, trick, humiliate and silence his victims," said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance.
"Women were believed," said attorney Gloria Allred, who represents two of the three women the charges were based around. "This is the age of empowerment of women. And you can not intimidate them anymore."
WATCH: Attorney Gloria Allred Reacts To Weinstein Verdict
The jury's verdict shows that they believed the testimony of Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann but had doubts about the testimony of actress Annabella Sciorra.
Weinstein, 67, was found guilty of criminal sexual act for forcing a sex act on Mimi Haley in 2006 at his SoHo apartment, rape in the third degree for the attack on Jessica Mann in 2013 at a Manhattan hotel, but not guilty of rape in the first degree.
He was also found not guilty of predatory sexual assault.
Sciorra alleges Weinstein raped her in the early '90s after forcing his way into her Gramercy Park apartment. The statute of limitations for a rape charge had run out, but the DA's office was able to use her allegation together with Haley and Mann's crimes for the two counts of predatory sexual assault charge to show a pattern.
On Friday, the jury hinted they might be hung on the predatory sexual assault charge, sending a note reading "We the jury request to understand if we can be hung on 1 and or 3, but unanimous on the others."
Monday, the jury of seven men and five women came to a unanimous decision.
"I can't look behind the jury's verdict or how they arrived at that. We have to respect that process. But by no means, it's not a statement against Ms. Sciorra or anything she said in court," Vance said.
"My testimony was painful but necessary. I spoke for myself and with the strength of the eighty plus victims of Harvey Weinstein in my heart. While we hope for continued righteous outcomes that bring absolute justice, we can never regret breaking the silence. For in speaking truth to power we pave the way for a more just culture, free of the scourge of violence against women," Sciorra said in a statement after the verdict.
Most jurors were escorted out of the courthouse and didn't say anything. CBS2 caught up with the foreman, who says he isn't ready to talk about how they reached this verdict just yet.
"Let me just process it, and then I'll... another time," he said.
Harvey Weinstein's walker, a controversy all its own, was wheeled out for the first time without the disgraced movie mogul behind it. His hands, which once gripped it so firmly for support, were cuffed in the front of his body, soon to be holding on to bars in front of him.
Sentencing was set for March 11. Criminal sexual act carries a maximum of 25 years, and rape in the third degree carries a maximum of four years.
Weinstein will eventually be in the infirmary at Rikers since the defense argued he's been under the care of five doctors and had an unsuccessful back surgery.
The jury also heard testimony from additional accusers -- Tarale Wulff, Dawn Dunning and Lauren Marie Young.
"These are eight women who pulled our justice system into the 21st Century by declaring that rape is rape and sexual assault is sexual assault no matter what," he added.
Allred called her clients "role models in courage." She said Sciorra is "absolutely one of the bravest women I know."
"She sacrificed so much -- privacy -- invested so much time, went through so much, just for the cause of justice," said Allred.
Weinstein pleaded not guilty and said any sexual encounters were consensual. His defense team tried to discredit the accusers, showing that some continued to contact Weinstein or had consensual encounters with him after the alleged incidents.
"We still don't think that the evidence supported this conviction whatsoever. We're pretty confident that the appellate courts are going to find the same way. But you cannot discount the amount of pressure on this jury to convict him of something. It was enormous," Aidala said outside court. "The bottom line is: The day of jury selection, he was arrested again or re-charged in LA. I mean, how do you get a fair jury when the cover of every newspaper is the defendant in the New York case being arrested somewhere else? It just rings of unfairness."
Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, sparking the #MeToo Movement. He now faces additional charges in Los Angeles, involving Young and another accuser.
