According to Weinstein’s spokeswoman, his legal team “will demonstrate the errors in the application of the law and the possible bias in the application of justice.”
Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, sentenced to spend the next 36 years in prison for various cases of sexual assault in New York and Los Angeles, decided to hire the comedian’s lawyer Bill Cosby to appeal the sentence he received in February on the West Coast.
Jennifer Bonjean, the criminal lawyer who successfully overturned Cosby’s conviction in 2021, From now on, he will lead Weinstein’s legal team. to appeal that sentence of 16 years in prison for sexual crimes in Los Angeles that was added to the one he was already serving in New York, US media reported on Monday.
In addition to representing Cosby in his appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Bonjean was the lead attorney for R. Kelly during his criminal trial in Chicago and also defended Keith Raniere, leader of the Nxivm sex cult.
“Bonjean Law Group and Jennifer Bonjean herself understand the issues Harvey faces and know what he needs (…). With this team, the appeal in Los Angeles It will demonstrate the errors in the application of the law and the possible partiality in the application of justice”Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein’s spokeswoman, argued in statements to Variety.
On February 23, the Los Angeles County Superior Court sentenced Weinstein to 16 years in prison after being declared guilty of three counts of rape and sexual assault to a model of Italian origin.
A California jury had also found him guilty in December of rape, sexual penetration and “forced oral intercourse” against that woman after a trial that lasted for two months.
The producer was tried for seven charges (two for rape and five for sexual harassment) that were based on accusations of four women whose attacks occurred between 2005 and 2013. All allegedly in Los Angeles hotel rooms.
Weinstein was cleared of one of the charges that were charged to him and the rest the jury could not reach a guilty agreement.
Weinstein’s defense so far asked for a new trial in February the judge in charge of the case, Lisa B. Lench, and the assistant prosecutors, Paul Thompson and Marlene Martinez. However, the motion was not accepted.
weinstein he has also appealed his sentence in New Yorkwhere he was sentenced to 23 years for sexual assault in 2020.
At the moment, is deprived of liberty in the Mohawk Correctional Facility (New York), a medium-level men’s prison in terms of security standards.
The wave of accusations against Weinstein began in 2015, when some actresses began to raise their voices around their abusebut Weinstein didn’t see his career come crashing down until October 2017.
The New York Times and days later The New Yorker magazine uncovered a history of sexual harassment perpetuated by the producer for decades.
The case became a banner of the feminist movement #MeToo and encouraged dozens of artists to speak out about the mogul’s abuse, including established actresses like Uma Thurman, Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek.