A New York City grand jury indicted disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein on charges of rape and a criminal sexual act of the first degree, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. Weinstein, who was arrested and arraigned Friday afternoon, has been accused of numerous sexual assaults and harassment by dozens of women over a decades-long career, but the indictments are the result of specific allegations made by two women—Lucia Evans, who says Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on her in 2004 and another woman, who has not been publicly identified, who says Hollywood powerbroker raped her in a New York City hotel in 2013.
“This indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement. “Our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs. The defendant’s recent assault on the integrity of the survivors and the legal process is predictable. We are confident that when the jury hears the evidence, it will reject these attacks out of hand.”
The indictment was handed down shortly after Weinstein’s attorney announced his client would not appear before the grand jury because they were granted insufficient time to prepare and “denied access to critical information about this case.” Weinstein’s legal team also attempted to paint the pursuit of the serial abuser as a politically hatchet job and “inevitable due to the unfair political pressure being placed on [Manhattan District Attorney] Cy Vance to secure a conviction.”
Weinstein is currently out on $1 million bail and wearing a court-ordered ankle bracelet.
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