The jury in the Harvey Weinstein rape trial has reached a verdict, court officials announced Monday.
The verdict is expected to be read shortly in the courtroom in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
“The jury has concluded deliberations in the case of People v. Harvey Weinstein (Case Number BA484270),” a court spokesperson said. “The verdict will be taken in Dept. 110 as soon as counsel are present.”
The jury began deliberating on Dec. 2, and their deliberations lasted approximately 40 hours, spread across 10 days. It was not yet clear if they had reached a unanimous verdict on all charges.
The former Hollywood titan is facing seven charges: two counts of rape and five counts of sexual assault. The charges are based on allegations from four women whose sexual abuse claims range from 2005 to 2013, all allegedly occurring in hotel rooms in Los Angeles.
If convicted on all charges, Weinstein faces as much as 60 years to life, effectively guaranteeing that he will spend the rest of his life in prison. Weinstein, 70, is already serving a 23-year sentence after being convicted of rape and sexual assault during his first criminal trial in New York in 2020.
The New York Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in the state, is set to hear the appeal of that conviction next year.
The jury deliberated on each charge separately, and had to reach a unanimous vote on each of the seven charges.
Weinstein has been held since July 2021 within the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles, after being extradited from New York. He has been confined to a wheelchair and suffers from a wide array of medical issues, including diabetes, sleep apnea, cardiac problems and eye problems.
Among the accusers was Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. She alleged that Weinstein raped her in 2005, after she arrived for what she thought was a business meeting. The prosecution also called four “prior bad acts” witnesses to support the charged allegations, including Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, the Italian model who was the center of a NYPD sting operation against Weinstein in 2015.
The prosecution described Weinstein as a “predator” in closing arguments, and urged the jury to end his “reign of terror.”
His defense team countered that the accusers engaged in “transactional” relationships with the producer because of his power in the entertainment industry. “They played the game,” said Weinstein’s defense attorney Alan Jackson. “They hate it now, unequivocally, and that hate translated into their testimony.”
Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment, assault or rape by more than 100 women who have publicly come forward over the past five years.