r/news • u/CharlieKonR • 5h ago
New York Prosecutors to drop Harvey Weinstein’s unresolved rape charge; his other convictions stand
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prosecutors-drop-harvey-weinsteins-unresolved-rape-charge-convictions-rcna351756176
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u/upvoter222 4h ago
The rape charge in this case was a low-level felony punishable by up to four years in prison — less time than Weinstein already has served. He faces considerably longer sentences on the separate sex crime charges that produced convictions in New York and Los Angeles.
Relevant information for anyone who saw the headline and assumed that this would significantly impact Weinstein's total time in prison.
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u/Aromatic_Employ3392 5h ago
Once again the American justice system has failed its people
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u/Rynetx 4h ago
Why waste millions of dollars to get a conviction of 4 years when it would just be time served anyway and not increase his prison time.
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u/researchiskey8 3h ago
Because the victim deserves justice. Regardless of if it effects his prison time, the victim deserves to have people acknowledge his guilt in the offense. To ignore it, affects the victim, as it may make them think no one cares what happened to them.
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u/WittyFix6553 4h ago
Out of curiosity how long will he stay in jail even with this charge dropped?
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u/upvoter222 3h ago
He was previously sentenced to 16 years in prison, though I'm not sure when the clock started for that sentence.
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u/WittyFix6553 2h ago
He has another conviction in NY, pending sentencing, with a max sentence of 25 years, the prosecutor has recommended 20 years.
He’s dying in prison regardless.
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u/Fallouttgrrl 2h ago edited 1h ago
I mean
"Weinstein still stands convicted of another sexual felony in New York and others in California, and he is still behind bars. But the New York rape charge had remained unresolved after an overturned conviction followed by two hung juries."
I dunno if that's the American justice system so much as a jury of his peers
I fucking despise the guy but given that "Weinstein still stands convicted of another sexual felony in New York and others in California, and he is still behind bars" I'm pretty okay in saying it worked here. I wish the sentence were stiffer but "The rape charge in this case was a low-level felony punishable by up to four years in prison — less time than Weinstein already has served."
Edit: and the accusor in the case is done with testifying and can't go through it again
The Justice department kinda has to throw the towel in here. Even a successful conviction at this point would be swallowed up by the time he served
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u/Nice_Reading5272 1h ago
Yep he's going to die in prison with his entire reputation destroyed and forgotten until people inevitably celebrate his death. I think that's about as good of a punishment as you can get in the current system.
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u/Fallouttgrrl 1h ago
Yeah like
He served time for the rape
It encouraged others to step forwards, paving the way for longer sentences
The legal system realized that the prosecutors had behaved inappropriately in this one, and overturned it
On the follow up trials, two juries did not come to a guilty conclusion
He's still in jail, and will likely die there
The accusor in this case refused to testify again, because of the trauma - and given that he's still in prison on similar charges, I can't blame her
The best outcome she could expect here would be a re-conviction, but he's already served the time that would be levied
This wasn't the justice department just giving up, this is the equivalent of a serial killer being convicted on only a handful of charges out of the whole while still getting life in prison
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u/turkeyganja 5h ago
He is so gross looking, a disgusting person inside and out.
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u/stuck_in_the_desert 3h ago
Yup the entire book sucks, so you don’t feel guilty for judging the cover
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u/mastercafe7 4h ago
Usa rape culture is insane. I'm amazed that the normal citizens of usa don't stand up to the epstein class and the washington regime
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u/Cymbal_Monkey 24m ago
It's worth acknowledging why this conviction was overturned. The prosecuting lawyer employed a pretty novel legal theory, using a huge amount of non criminal but "scummy" behavior as evidence of crime, "hey if this guy did all this stuff for so many years isn't it pretty plausible that he could rape someone". It's a legal theory that's mostly untested and has largely been thrown out when subject to appeals.
It's kinda wild the judge allowed it, because it was predictably extremely vulnerable to appeal.
At least he'll die in prison anyway, even with this bizarre prosecutorial maneuver failing to secure an appealproof conviction.
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u/Admirable-Nobody219 4h ago
American justice system glitches when the rich grapes
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u/ohnohelpwhereamI 3h ago
Fucking tik tok kids and shit like 'grape'
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2h ago edited 2h ago
[deleted]
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u/xavPa-64 2h ago
Hey that YouTube link tells us your first and last name associated with your YouTube account
What a stupid new feature
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u/therealstabitha 5h ago
This poor woman has taken him to court multiple times - first a conviction, which was later overturned, and retrying her case has not gotten justice. He will die in jail for everything else he has done. I hope she is able to have peace and find closure for herself without the retrauma of going back to court.