Film producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of sexual assault and rape – but not serial sexual assault – on Monday February 24. During a chat, Arnaud Leparmentier, correspondent for World in the United States which followed the trial in a Manhattan court, answered questions from Internet users of the Monde.fr.
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Youssef: Hello. I always have the impression that there is two-tier justice in Western countries, including the United States. If Weinstein had been African American or Latin, he would have taken life. Don't you also have this impression?
I'm not into this game. The subject is the trial of Harvey Weinstein. It went smoothly and no one says the sentence is unfair. It’s my personal feeling after attending many hearings. His grief is not known (it will be announced on March 11). She will be between five and twenty-nine years in prison.
Cédric: We saw the pictures of a poor Harvey Weinstein dragging himself with a walker. Was it comedy to coax the jurors or is it really diminished physically?
Weinstein was physically diminished. He had a car accident this summer and had back surgery. I saw him arrive without his walker at one of the sessions. He does walk with difficulty. The defense was not allowed to summon a doctor during the trial.
Quentin: Did Harvey Weinstein avoid the worst? If yes, was it foreseeable because of his status, or his judgment corresponds to what is usually decided in this kind of case?
The length of his sentence is not yet known. If he is sentenced to five years, it is not the same as a sentence of twenty-nine years. He avoided the worst by not being convicted of serial assault and behavior "Predatory", according to the American term. He would have had a minimum sentence of twenty-five years, equivalent to life since his age. Actor Bill Cosby was sentenced in 2018 to three to ten years in prison, a non-fixed sentence, confirmed on appeal.
Colsk: There was no prescription for these assaults a priori. The prescription exists in the United States, how long is it? Do you also know the French prescription for the same crimes?
In France, the prescription for major rape has long been 10 years and has been extended to twenty years. In the United States, the prescription exists, but the details are complicated, vary from state to state. What I take away: many cases were not examined, due to lack of evidence, because of prescription or because of the wish of some victims to avoid the painful trial of a trial.
The two cases for which Weinstein was convicted were in 2006 and 2013, just over ten years. By contrast, the jurors did not find Weinstein guilty of an alleged rape that took place in 1993-1994 which was prescribed, but could have supported the predator character and sent him to life imprisonment. This long convolution to show that the jurors at the bottom did not want to convict him on a accusation dating back a quarter of a century.
Jean: Should we expect a change of sentence given his accident and what he has (or not?) Of personal fortune?
Weinstein was admitted to hospital after the verdict. It is very rare to get out of prison for health reasons. The crook Bernard Madoff sentenced to 150 years in prison said he was dying and asked to be released from prison. It will be a test of leniency towards the powerful elders. But do not be wrong about the money: it is used to pay lawyers, pay investigators, silence victims, get out of prison on bail before conviction, but after, when you are convicted, you go to prison . Look at Donald Trump's friends. When it is white-collar crime – which is not the case with Weinstein – you can go to a prison with light constraints. Given the political weight of the case, I think Weinstein will spend many years in prison.
Mark: Can we be more specific about what was accused of him and what was ultimately retained?
Weinstein was quickly charged with sexual assault (forced cunnilingus) against Mimi Haleyi in 2006. He was convicted of this crime and faces 5 to 25 years in prison.
He was charged with rape against Jessica Mann in 2013. He was acquitted of the violent rape charge which would have brought him from 5 to 25 years in prison, but was found guilty of rape with the victim unable to consent. This qualification, which I believe does not exist in France, will earn him up to 4 years in prison.
Finally, Weinstein was acquitted of serial sexual assault (predatory behavior). For that, he would have had to be found guilty of the rape of actress Annabella Sciorra in 1993-1994: on this point, the jury acquitted him.
Tom: Having been found guilty solely on the basis of the complainants' statements without further physical evidence, what are the chances of Weinstein being acquitted on appeal?
There is no physical evidence, but there was testimony from a friend of Mimi Haleyi, who was made aware in real time of Weinstein's actions. This is a very strong accusation, and it is this that earns Weinstein his most serious condemnation.
On appeal, I cannot pronounce, but I think he has very little chance of winning on this point: the jurors have condemned him only on the damning facts (cf the acquittal on the Sciorra case and the conviction light background in the Mann case). But the Haleyi record is very solid. One may even wonder if it is in his interest to appeal, having avoided the heaviest conviction. Perhaps he is awaiting sentencing.
ultras1984: If DSK was able to get a financial arrangement with the cleaning lady, how is it that such a wealthy man could not get along with the two complainants?
Excuse me, but your assumption is wrong. Prosecutor Cyrus Vance dropped the charges in 2011 because he believed he would not be able to convict Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK). Explanation, in a wiretapped conversation, Nafissatou Diallo, his victim, had said to a friend in prison: "Don't worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I'm doing. " In a second, the case fell apart: a jury never condemns anyone unanimously when their victim hopes to make money from it. In any case, that was the reasoning of the prosecution. The end of the criminal proceedings did not prevent civil proceedings, and DSK had to compensate Nafissatou Diallo.
On Weinstein, we were here in the first criminal part of the case. There will be another one in California. Many victims preferred to attack in civilian life, an agreement was announced several times, but it has not been confirmed.
Damien: In the United States, do you think that the Weinstein affair is a real thunderbolt in society, which will have a lasting impact on relations between human beings, or do you think that in this country it is the outcome of a long process of legalization of society?
The Weinstein case was a game-changing global thunderbolt. A documentary explains how we went from a generalized state of mind "The actresses sleep to have a role" at "The actresses are in fact raped by their producer who exercises control over them". This does not really change the permanent judicialization of American society. The criminal proceedings already existed: against Polanski in the 1970s, much was said, but also against Bill Cosby, before the Metoo case, against the coach of the American gymnastics team Larry Nassar (sentenced to 60 years of prison in 2017).
On the other hand, you have a "Pendulum", with a president of the United States elected when he was able to boast of "Take women by the pussy", a Supreme Court judge invested despite charges of assault – certainly in the 1980s. So there is tension between these trends. The merit of the Weinstein judgment – it's a personal opinion – is that it is measured. There is no lynching of Weinstein, a conviction which appears reasonable and corresponds to the debates. We didn't judge "Metoo" or the abject life of Weinstein. He was tried for three specific cases. And it is in doubt what is most effective for the fight of women.
Damien: The Weinstein affair took years to break out (like the Gabriel Matzneff affair in France). Do we know more about the "Machination" who made this update possible? The producer's enemies decided that the time was right, why? And why not sooner, which might have saved other victims?
It’s not a plot. Many suspected Weinstein's behavior, but he bought part of his victims' silence through transactions, while many believed that he had the means to blast their careers and their lives. The New yorker had attempted to investigate in the early 2000s, but had been unable to publish due to lack of testimony. Finally, by investigating journalists from the New york times and New Yorker, women have had the courage to speak openly, and that is what has revealed the whole thing. In the United States, the press is free, but if you publish false or unsupported accusations, the risk is immense.
