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Harvey Weinstein Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Assault

by Arya Hodjat

   Disgraced U.S. movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has pleaded not guilty in
   New York City to sexual assault charges stemming from a 2006 incident,
   the third such case against him.
   More than 70 women have accused Weinstein, 66, of sexual misconduct,
   ranging from sexual harassment to rape. According to CNN, Weinstein had
   already pleaded not guilty to two rape charges and one criminal sex act
   charge, before he pleaded not guilty on Monday to an additional
   criminal sex act and two charges of predatory sexual assault.
   "A Manhattan grand jury has now indicted Harvey Weinstein on some of
   the most serious sexual offenses that exist under New York's penal
   law," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. said in a statement.
   "This indictment is the result of the extraordinary courage exhibited
   by the survivors who have come forward."
   Allegations against Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax and The Weinstein
   Company, first surfaced last year. Actresses Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan
   and Angelina Jolie were among the early accusers of sexual misconduct
   against Weinstein -- regarding alleged incidents dating from 1980 to
   2015, CNN reported.
   The allegations sparked the global #MeToo movement that encouraged
   women to speak out against sexual harassment in the workplace.
   Following the accusations, Weinstein was expelled from the Academy of
   Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was fired from The Weinstein
   Company, which is being sold.
   Weinstein, for his part, is free on bail as he fights the accusations.
   Weinstein's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said in a statement his client
   expected to be exonerated.
   "Mr. Weinstein maintains that all of these allegations are false, and
   he expects to be fully vindicated," Brafman said. "Furthermore, to
   charge Mr. Weinstein as a predator when the interactions were each
   consensual is simply not justified."
   In the wake of the #MeToo movement, a legal defense fund known as
   Time's Up was established to provide financial and legal backing toward
   sexual assault cases like the ones against Weinstein.
   In March, the group called on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to launch an
   investigation into Vance's office's handling of sexual assault
   allegations against Weinstein by actress Ambra Battilana Gutierrez in
   2015. After reporting the alleged assault to the New York Police
   Department's Special Victims Division, Battilana Gutierrez was
   encouraged by the NYPD to meet again with Weinstein, but this time
   wearing a recording device.
   The recording was published by The New Yorker in October 2017, where
   Weinstein allegedly can be heard admitting to groping Battilana
   Gutierrez. Following the second meeting, the district attorney's office
   declined to file charges.
   Weinstein faces a potential life sentence in prison if found guilty of
   predatory sexual assault.