Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.
Late last month, 67-year-old Weinstein was found guilty by a jury in New York of criminal sexual assault in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
He had been in court for a total of five charges, three of which were dropped after a lengthy deliberation by the jury.
On Wednesday (March 11), he appeared in court in a wheelchair, with his lawyers appealing for leniency as they told the court that even the minimum sentence of five years would be a "life sentence" for Weinstein.
He had been facing a minimum or five years in prison and a maximum of 25 years.
Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree for assaulting actress Jessica Mann in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and of committing a criminal sex act for forcing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006.
In the Manhattan courtroom this morning, prosecutor Joan Illuzzi thanked the six women who testified against Weinstein, all of whom were in the courtroom to hear the sentencing.
"Without these women and others who were willing to come forward," CBS News quotes Illuzzi as saying. "This matter would never have been able to be taken, it never would have been successful, and the defendant would never have been able to stop hurting or destroying other people's lives."
She added that Weinstein "got drunk on power," saying, "He could take what he wanted knowing there was very little anyone could do about it."
This morning, both Weinstein victims Mann and Haley addressed the court.
"I believe that when he attacked me that evening with physical force with no regard for anything I said," Haley told the courtroom. "What he did… stripped me of my dignity as a woman."
Weinstein's lawyers have said he will appeal the verdict.
Late last month, 67-year-old Weinstein was found guilty by a jury in New York of criminal sexual assault in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
He had been in court for a total of five charges, three of which were dropped after a lengthy deliberation by the jury.
On Wednesday (March 11), he appeared in court in a wheelchair, with his lawyers appealing for leniency as they told the court that even the minimum sentence of five years would be a "life sentence" for Weinstein.
He had been facing a minimum or five years in prison and a maximum of 25 years.
Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree for assaulting actress Jessica Mann in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and of committing a criminal sex act for forcing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006.
In the Manhattan courtroom this morning, prosecutor Joan Illuzzi thanked the six women who testified against Weinstein, all of whom were in the courtroom to hear the sentencing.
"Without these women and others who were willing to come forward," CBS News quotes Illuzzi as saying. "This matter would never have been able to be taken, it never would have been successful, and the defendant would never have been able to stop hurting or destroying other people's lives."
She added that Weinstein "got drunk on power," saying, "He could take what he wanted knowing there was very little anyone could do about it."
This morning, both Weinstein victims Mann and Haley addressed the court.
"I believe that when he attacked me that evening with physical force with no regard for anything I said," Haley told the courtroom. "What he did… stripped me of my dignity as a woman."
Weinstein's lawyers have said he will appeal the verdict.