Harvey Weinstein Given Additional 16 Year-Prison Sentence After Latest Rape Conviction

The former producer was initially sentenced to 23 years in 2020.

Harvey Weinstein will officially be spending the rest of his life in prison. 

The former producer, 70, has been sentenced to 16 more years behind bars as of Thurs. Feb. 23, following his conviction of three counts of rape and sexual assault in December 2022. 

He is currently serving a 23-year sentence in New York after being convicted of the same crimes in that jurisdiction during his 2020 criminal trial–ensuring that he will be spending the rest of his life in prison despite once being one of the most powerful individuals in Hollywood. 

All three charges were based on counts relating to a European model who identified as Jane Doe #1. She testified that she was raped by Weinstein at Mr. C Hotel following the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013. 

According to Variety, Weinstein's attorneys have claimed that he had an unfair trial and conviction because his lawyers claimed that the court prevented the defense from admitting applicable evidence and arguments pertaining to the model. 

Weinstein's lawyers Mark Werksman and Alan Jackson filed a motion in January to request a new trial with a new jury. The motion was shut down by the judge on Thursday prior to his sentencing in Los Angeles, but the highest court in the state of New York, the Court of Appeals, agreed to hear the former producer's appeal to potentially overturn his 2020 conviction.

"It's a cruel sentence, given his age, his health and the conditions of his conviction in Los Angeles, when the charges were from a person who lied, with the judge and prosecutor well aware of it and permitting it, about critical elements of her own claim. It's not justice, but a pile on for a man many people just decided should be cast off and discarded regardless of facts. It will be appealed," a representative for Weinstein, Juda Engelmayer, said in response to his sentencing, per PEOPLE.

She continued: "The judge, just like the trial judge in his New York trial who was not reappointed to the bench, will eventually be called out for bias and injustice. There are many out there who will celebrate this action, but it is a sad day for justice and fairness, and I hope no one who is pleased with this is ever caught on the wrong side of cancel culture while hopelessly and voicelessly proclaiming innocence."