Sunday, March 08, 2020

You be the judge: What is an appropriate sentence for Harvey Weinstein?

The prosecutors are asking for the Court to consider 11 single-spaced pages of uncharged and unproven conduct.

The defense will be filing its memo shortly.

USA Today has this summary:

Harvey Weinstein's sentence for his conviction on two sex crimes should reflect his "lifetime of abuse" as shown at his trial and in 36 other cases of sexual harassment and assault, workplace abuse and even physically assaulting a reporter, Manhattan prosecutors said in a letter to the trial judge released Friday.

The 11-page letter from Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi was sent to Judge James Burke in advance of Weinstein's sentencing on March 11, when prosecutors are expected to make an oral statement in court about the sentence.

The trial evidence, the testimony of the six accusers who took the stand, and additional allegations outlined in the letter, Illuzzi said, "show a lifetime of abuse towards others, sexual and otherwise."

She asked the judge to "impose a sentence that reflects the seriousness of defendant's offenses, his total lack of remorse for the harm he has caused, and the need to deter him and others from engaging in further criminal conduct."

Weinstein was convicted Feb. 24 of third-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault involving two women, and was acquitted of three more serious charges. He could be sentenced to prison for a term ranging from five years to 25 years.
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"As this court is well aware, in imposing what it deems to be a fair and just punishment, a sentencing court is not limited to the evidence at trial," Illuzzi wrote, citing precedent to argue that the judge has "wide discretion to consider all circumstances that shed light on a convicted person's background, history and behavior" in considering a sentence.

"Chief among the information considered at sentencing is the defendant's history of 'misconduct, whether or not it resulted in convictions,' " Illuzzi said, citing precedents in several federal cases.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

50 years +/- sounds about right. The guy was one of the most prolific predators around.

Anonymous said...

Court heard over 100 victims of uncharged conduct for Larry Nassar. Why not for Weinstein?

Anonymous said...

Absent hiring a CJA attorney from the SD Fla., there was nothing that could have been done better.

Anonymous said...

Who cares

Anonymous said...

How do you expect someone to know what an appropriate sentence is without the prosecutor's recommendation

the trialmaster said...

Over/Under is 10 years.

Anonymous said...

Why is it done with letters?

Anonymous said...

Another blog about a state court case huh?
Anyway, I've always tried to interject age into sentencing. For a younger defendant it is lack of maturity and scientific evidence about brain formation and the inability to understand consequences. For an older defendant it is the diminishing probability of recidivism (committing new crimes for the judges that read your blog).
How much is a sentence should be a punishment and how much should it be for for protection of the community? The problem here is that the crimes seriously altered the lives of the victims and this is a case that falls on the punishment spectrum. I think he's lucky to get twenty and I do not think he survives it. Plus LA is going to pile on with another case and he's not going to win that (unless he hires certain lawyers from the 305 area code). What a tragedy and fall from grace but the guy is all by all accounts an unrepentant predator.

If the over/under is ten then I'm taking whatever money I have left after the market yesterday and putting it on over. No way it will be ten on his best day.

This is Rumpole but I'm signed out of my account for complicated technology reasons.



Anonymous said...

23 years, bitch!

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/us/harvey-weinstein-sentence/index.html