Harvey Weinstein turns himself in over sexual misconduct charges
The long-running Harvey Weinstein saga seems to be reaching its inevitable conclusion. The disgraced producer has turned himself into the New York police on Friday morning on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him, reports CNN.
As Weinstein made his way to the police station, he was surrounded by a throng of reporters and photographers who tried to capture what will undoubtedly be a cathartic moment for the 80-odd women who have come out to make allegations against him since October. This will be the first criminal case to be brought against Weinstein.
Manhattan prosecutors will most likely charge Weinstein with first and third-degree rape in one case and a first-degree sex act in the second case. He is most likely to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned later today. His bond is expected to be set at $2 million.
According to the Guardian, the 66-year-old has already negotiated the bail package and will put up $1 million in cash and agree to wear a monitoring device in exchange for freedom. Another condition will require him to surrender his passport.
The BBC speculates that the charges relate to accusations made by 36-year-old former actress Lucia Evans, who had recently talked to the New Yorker about how she had struggled with the decision to make a formal complaint against Weinstein and defiantly said: "At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind."
Weinstein's headache does not end here, however. The Hollywood mogul also is also under investigation for sex crimes he committed in Los Angeles, as well as in London. The Wall Street Journal reports that Federal prosecutors in New York have already started a sex crime investigation involving him.
While the statute of limitations will apply in certain cases, Evans' accusations are thought to fall well within the limit. And, even if they did, the precedent set in the recently-concluded Bill Cosby trial — the 80-year-old comedian was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault — where the judge having called up witnesses to testify to establish a pattern of sexually predatory behavior, might come into play in Weinstein's case as well.
The New York Times exposé in October 2017 had revealed the extent of Weinstein's inappropriate behavior with a large number of women he had previously worked with and led to the birth of the #MeToo movement. Since then, several prominent personalities have been called out for their deviant behavior by their victims and fostered a sort of new-age revolution.
Weinstein's arrest on Friday marks a watershed moment in the fight for women's rights and will quite possibly set the tone for things to come.
