Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 15 years in prison in #MeToo case after retrial | Today’s news
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday (September 23) for sexually assaulting former TV production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, marking the latest chapter in the landmark case of the #MeToo era after his original conviction was overturned and he was re-sentenced in a new trial.
The sentence followed a legal saga spanning more than six years. Weinstein’s original conviction in New York in 2020 was overturned by the state’s highest court in 2024, which found that the testimony of women whose accusations were not part of the case improperly influenced the trial. New jury convicts Weinstein of sexually assaulting Haley in 2025.
Weinstein, 74, is expected to appeal. He consistently denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone.
Miriam Haley: ‘It’s a life sentence for me’
Haley addressed the court before Weinstein was sentenced and described the lasting effects of the attack.
“Being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein had a devastating impact on my life and sense of safety that may never go away,” Haley said. “It’s a life sentence for me.
She said she repeatedly considered giving up on her quest for justice, adding that the legal process itself caused further trauma.
Weinstein then addressed the court from a wheelchair, expressing remorse for Haley’s pain while maintaining his innocence.
“I feel remorse for Miriam Haley’s pain, but I must reaffirm my innocence,” he said.
Judge Curtis Farber, who presided over the case, referred to Weinstein’s former status as one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, saying that recognition for his achievements “would pale in comparison to what you have done.”
Why Weinstein was convicted again
Weinstein was originally sentenced to 23 years in 2020 after being convicted of assaulting Haley and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
The New York Supreme Court overturned that conviction and sentence in 2024 and ordered a new trial after finding that Weinstein’s trial was influenced by testimony related to allegations that were not part of the indictment.
In a retrial in 2025, a Manhattan jury again found Weinstein guilty of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct involving Haley. A jury acquitted him of a separate charge involving former model Kaja Sokol, but could not reach a verdict on a rape charge involving Mann.
A third New York trial on Mann’s charges ended in a mistrial in May 2026 after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Manhattan prosecutors subsequently dropped the rape charges, clearing the way for Weinstein’s conviction for Haley’s conviction.
Weinstein’s medical condition cited in clemency request
Weinstein’s defense asked the judge to impose only three years on top of the more than six years he had already served.
His lawyer Jacob Kaplan cited Weinstein’s deteriorating health, saying he has been hospitalized several times since 2025 and suffers from blood cancer, congestive heart failure and kidney problems. Weinstein has been using a wheelchair for several years.
Despite the conviction, Weinstein continues to deny the allegations against him. In a prison interview earlier this year, he said: “I will be proven innocent. I promise you that.”
A separate rape conviction in California
Weinstein also faces a separate criminal case in California. There he was convicted of rape in 2022 and initially sentenced to 16 years in prison. A California appeals court upheld the conviction, but reversed it after finding that the judge considered his New York conviction an aggravating factor.
In that case, he is awaiting sentencing again.
The California case means Wednesday’s 15-year sentence in New York isn’t the only prison term hanging over Weinstein.
Assault charges involving Miriam Haley
Haley, 49, worked briefly as a production assistant on the reality competition show Project Runway and met Weinstein through a professional connection.
She testified that she accepted an invitation to visit Weinstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2006 because she was scheduled to travel to Los Angeles the next day for a film premiere associated with his company.
According to her testimony, Weinstein leaned in to kiss her while they were talking on his couch. She said she refused him, but he grabbed her, forced her into a bedroom and sexually assaulted her despite her pleas for him to stop.
Haley testified about the alleged assault at both the original trial and the retrial.
The rise of Weinstein and the fall of #MeToo
Before his fall, Weinstein was one of Hollywood’s most influential producers and an Oscar winner whose films included Shakespeare in Love, Pulp Fiction and Chocolat.
The sexual abuse allegations against him, which became public in 2017, sparked a wider reckoning over sexual abuse and abuse of power in the entertainment industry, helping fuel the global #MeToo movement.
Weinstein’s legal battles have continued in the years since his 2018 arrest, with convictions, appeals, retrials and mistrials in New York and California.
With Wednesday’s sentence, Weinstein is expected to remain behind bars until his later years.
