Harvey Weinstein Indicted by Grand Jury on Rape and Sexual Misconduct Charges

On Wednesday, Harvey Weinstein was indicted by a grand jury with two charges of rape and one of criminal sexual acts.

According to a Manhattan district officer, Weinstein is accused of both forcing a woman to perform oral sex in his office and of raping a woman in a hotel. This recent indictment comes a week after Weinstein was arrested by the police, following several months of investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and assault.

District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. stated: “This indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged.” The attorney was given six months to seek a grand jury indictment, yet his officials moved quickly after Weinstein stated on Friday that he would not testify in his own defense before the grand jury.

Vance had previously been criticized by feminists and police groups for deciding to not prosecute Weinstein in 2015 after an Italian model accused him of groping her during an interview. The D.A. defended his decision by saying that his sex crimes prosecutors indicated that the case could not be proven. After his arrest on Friday, Weinstein got released on one million dollar bail.

The indictment charges Weinstein with first and third-degree rape, as well as a first-degree criminal sexual act. If convicted, he could spend at least 25 years in prison. He has become the national symbol of an empowered sexual predator and the allegations against him stirred up the #MeToo movement.

One of his accusers is former actress Lucia Evans, who stated that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him during a casting meeting at his office in 2004. Although the victim that accuses him of rape has remained unidentified, she has stated that she was attacked inside a hotel on March 18th, 2013. Lead prosecutor Joan Illuzzi stated that Weinstein “used his position, money, and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually.”

Weinstein’s defense has argued that both encounters were consensual since Evans did not report the attack to the police at the time; and the second woman was in a romantic relationship with the producer that lasted ten years.  D.A. Vance disapproved of these ways of attempting to undermine the victims’ testimonies and to protect Weinstein.

The producer’s lawyer attempted to defend his client’s refusal to testify by saying that they were not given enough time to prepare a testimony since the details of the accusations and the identities of the accusers had just been made public on Friday. He stated: “regardless of how compelling Mr. Weinstein’s personal testimony might be, an indictment was inevitable due to the unfair political pressure being placed on Cy Vance to secure a conviction of Mr. Weinstein.”

His attorney also stated: “The announcement of Mr. Weinstein’s indictment does not come as a surprise. We remind everyone that an Indictment is merely a formal accusation. Mr. Weinstein intends to enter a plea of Not Guilty and vigorously defend against these unsupported allegations that he strongly denies. We will soon formally move to dismiss the indictment and if this case actually proceeds to trial, we expect Mr. Weinstein to be acquitted.”

Vance has stated after the indictment was made public: “This indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged. Our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs. The defendant’s recent assault on the integrity of the survivors and the legal process is predictable. We are confident that when the jury hears the evidence, it will reject these attacks out of hand.”

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