Harvey Weinstein gets 15 years in Manhattan sex assault retrial case

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced in Manhattan to 15 years for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley. The punishment renews a defining #MeToo reckoning even as he plans to appeal.

In Short

• Judge sentenced Weinstein after prosecutors dropped remaining rape charge following hung jury
• Miriam Haley said the assault caused lasting trauma and fear
• Weinstein apologised for Haley's pain in court but maintained innocence

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced in Manhattan on Wednesday to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, in another major reckoning tied to the #MeToo movement. The 74-year-old former film producer, once one of the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry, is expected to appeal and is now likely to remain behind bars until at least his late 80s.

The sentencing came after a legal battle that has stretched over more than six years. Weinstein's 2020 conviction in New York was overturned by the state's highest court because of testimony from women whose allegations were not part of the case, but a second jury convicted him again at a retrial last year for a first-degree criminal sex act against Haley.

Weinstein had faced up to 25 years in prison for assaulting Haley at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. He has already spent more than six years in custody as the case moved repeatedly through the courts. His original 23-year sentence had followed convictions for assaulting Haley and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. At the retrial last year, the jury again found him guilty in Haley's case, acquitted him of forcibly performing oral sex on another woman, Kaja Sokola, and could not reach a verdict on the rape charge involving Mann.

After another retrial ended in a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the rape charge instead of pursuing a fourth trial after Mann said she could not bear to testify again. That cleared the way for Wednesday's sentencing. Weinstein has denied raping or sexually assaulting anyone. In a jailhouse interview with The Hollywood Reporter in March, he said, "I will be proven innocent. That I promise you."

Haley addressed the court shortly before sentencing. "Having been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein has had a devastating effect on my life and sense of security that may never go away. Making the decision to speak up will have me looking over my shoulder for years to come," she said. "It's a life sentence for me." She added, "I've been further traumatized in exercising my right to hold him accountable. All of this traces back to his actions," and said she had thought many times about ending her pursuit of justice.

Minutes later, Weinstein apologised in court to those he may have hurt, but maintained he was innocent. "I do have remorse for Miriam Haley's pain, but I have to reiterate my innocence," he told the judge. Judge Curtis Farber said Weinstein had once been a king in the film industry, "but recognition for these achievements will pale in comparison to what you did". He said Weinstein was now known as "a sexual predator, the literal face of the MeToo movement".

Weinstein's lawyer, Jacob Kaplan, had asked the court to add only three more years to the more than six years he has already served, saying a longer term would make it more likely that he dies in prison. Kaplan said Weinstein is in failing health and has been admitted to hospital six times since 2025 while dealing with blood cancer, congestive heart failure and kidney problems. His lawyers have also cited chronic myeloid leukaemia, diabetes and difficulty walking, and said he underwent emergency surgery two years ago to remove fluid around his heart and lungs.

Weinstein is also awaiting resentencing in a separate rape case in Los Angeles. A California appeals court upheld his 2022 conviction but set aside his original 16-year sentence because the judge had treated his New York convictions, which were later overturned, as an aggravating factor. After moving between state prison and New York City's Rikers Island complex, where he tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic, he is now being held at a medical unit for jail inmates at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

Haley, 49, is a former entertainment producer who now works in advertising. Born in Finland and raised in Sweden, she said she met Weinstein through a mutual connection and briefly worked as a production assistant on the reality competition show "Project Runway", which he produced. She said she accepted an invitation to visit his Manhattan apartment because it would have seemed odd to refuse, as she was due to fly to Los Angeles the next day at his company's expense for a film premiere.

Haley testified that after the two spoke briefly on his living room sofa, Weinstein lunged to kiss her. She said she got up and pushed him away, but he grabbed her, forced her into a bedroom and sexually assaulted her despite her pleas to stop. She also recalled Weinstein asking, "Don't you think we're much closer now?" after either the assault or a later occasion when, she said, she had unwanted but not forced sex with him. Haley said she told him after the second encounter, "You know you can't keep doing this."

Weinstein, whose film credits included "Shakespeare in Love", "Pulp Fiction" and "Chocolat", was once among Hollywood's most influential producers before allegations against him in 2017 helped ignite the #MeToo movement. On Wednesday, he was seated in a wheelchair and was quickly taken out of the courtroom after sentencing, while some of his accusers embraced and wiped away tears.

With PTI Inputs

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