HARVEY WEINSTEIN was found guilty of sex crimes involving two women but acquitted of the most severe charges he faced, a mixed verdict that nevertheless means the Hollywood producer faces the prospect of a lengthy prison term and delivers a victory to the #MeToo movement.

The verdict on Monday completed a fall from grace for Weinstein, whose Oscar-winning movie empire crumbled after sexual misconduct allegations emerged from several women, including famous actresses.

After nearly 20 hours of deliberation following a six-week trial in New York City, the jury found Weinstein guilty of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape and acquitted him of first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault. He faces between five and 25 years in prison on the criminal sexual-act charge and up to four years for third-degree rape.

New York State Supreme Court Justice James Burke ordered Weinstein, 67 years old, jailed until he is sentenced on March 11.

After the verdict was read, Weinstein’s defense counsel recounted, the producer said, “I’m innocent, I’m innocent, I’m innocent. How could this happen in America?”

Authorities booked him at the city’s Rikers Island jail facility Monday afternoon, where he will be housed in the infirmary. The wrists of the once-powerful producer were handcuffed before he hobbled out of the courtroom with obvious difficulty, leaning on officers for support. Weinstein had used a walker during the course of the trial.

Later, Weinstein was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, said his attorneys, without disclosing the reason.

The trial marked the first serious legal test for the allegations that ignited the #MeToo movement in 2017. It presented jurors with difficult issues involving the nature of sexual consent, the fallibility of memory over several decades and how rape victims interact with abusers after alleged sexual misconduct.

In convicting Weinstein of third-degree rape, the jury found that Weinstein had sex with aspiring actress Jessica Mann against her will in 2013 but determined that he didn’t use the physical force or threats of immediate harm required of first-degree rape. The first-degree criminal sex act conviction stemmed from accusations that he forced oral sex on production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006.

As recently as Friday, the jury had suggested it couldn’t come to an agreement on the charge of predatory sexual assault, which carried the most severe penalty of life in prison. The panel ultimately found there wasn’t enough proof to convict Weinstein of sexual misconduct with “The Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra at her New York City apartment in the early 1990s.

Dozens of women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, but the prosecutors presented the testimony of just six, who were often in tears as they testified. In her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi described Weinstein as an “abusive rapist” and “predator” who not only assaulted the victims but also tried to bully them into silence.

In New York, legal experts say Justice Burke is unlikely to sentence him to the maximum. Weinstein still faces a second prosecution, in California, for felony sex crimes. Los Angeles prosecutors charged him with raping a woman after pushing his way inside her hotel room on Feb. 18, 2013, and sexually assaulting another woman the next night. If convicted, he faces up to 28 years in prison.

The charges and trial represented a stunning turn for Weinstein, who was once viewed as one of Hollywood’s most skilled executives. Following reports in 2017 in the New York Times and the New Yorker about the allegations, he was fired as co-chairman of Weinstein Co., his independent movie and television studio. The studio’s films included Lee Daniels’ “The Butler,” which grossed more than US$100 million at the domestic box office. He was known as the Oscar-winning orchestrator behind hits like “Shakespeare in Love” and “The King’s Speech.”                                (SD-Agencies)