Harvey Weinstein’s legal team pleaded with the New York judge scheduled to sentence him Wednesday to give the convicted rapist just a five-year sentence, claiming he likely won’t survive behind bars for any longer than that.
Lawyers for the 67-year-old sexual abuser — who faces up to 29 years in jail — filed legal documents late Monday claiming a prison term longer than the mandatory minimum would essentially be “a de facto life sentence.”
“The grave reality is that Mr. Weinstein may not even outlive that term,” the attorneys wrote in a letter to New York Supreme Court Justice James Burke.
The lawyers also asked Burke to consider how their client’s life was “destroyed” and how he “lost everything” since the explosive 2017 New Yorker article by Ronan Farrow accusing him of sexual assault.
“Mr. Weinstein was constantly maligned by the media, having long since been convicted in the court of public opinion,” they wrote.
“His fall from grace has been historic, perhaps unmatched in the age of social media.”
They also want Burke to consider Weinstein’s otherwise clean record. And they tried to relitigate the case, deploying the same tactics used in court by writing that the disgraced producer’s victims “continued consensual relationships with Mr. Weinstein after the alleged assaults and contacted him for jobs, tickets, and professional advice.”
“The trial did not fairly portray who he is as a person,” they wrote.
“His life story, his accomplishments, and struggles are simply remarkable and should not be disregarded in total because of a jury’s verdict.”
They also cited Weinstein’s charitable work and his desire to spend time with his five children, including his six-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter with ex-wife Georgina Chapman, who are “the love of his life and continue to bring him constant joy.”
Weinstein is awaiting sentencing on Rikers Island after spending nearly two weeks at Bellevue Hospital, where he underwent a heart procedure last Wednesday.
The fallen movie mogul was convicted Feb. 24 of raping a hairstylist and forcibly performing oral sex on a former “Project Runway” production assistant.