How a Hollywood giant faced his reckoning
As jurors were sworn in for Harvey Weinstein’s trial in New York, the judge told them in no uncertain terms that this case was not intended to be a referendum on the #MeToo movement as a whole. But the trial, which ended with him being convicted of rape and sexual assault, at times felt like one.
Twelve jurors were tasked with ruling on sex charges, which Weinstein denied, in a trial that saw complex questions about consent and power dynamics on the stand. Jurors heard harrowing testimony from six women who, at times in tears, recounted their alleged assaults by the producer. At one point a woman, who he was later convicted of raping, had to leave court after suffering a panic attack in the witness box.
Every day journalists lined up, often before sunrise, to claim a place on the press benches. Cameras were not allowed inside the Manhattan Supreme Court, but the entrance was always lined with paparazzi scrambling to get daily shots and sound-bites from Weinstein, who had barely been seen in public for two years.