Ex-Hollywood Mogul Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in New York on Tuesday. Weinstein had been expected to move to New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex following the verdict, but was admitted late Monday night to Bellevue Hospital a few miles away.
One of his lawyers, Arthur Aidala, told reporters after meeting with Weinstein that his 67-year-old client “looked like he was in good shape” but was “not a picture of health by any stretch of the imagination,” and doctors would decide when to release him.
“He was upbeat,” though “obviously he prefers being in his own house,” Aidala said.
Media reports said Weinstein had experienced chest pain or heart palpitations before being admitted to Bellevue, a public hospital.
Aidala said Weinstein was “somewhat flabbergasted by the verdict” and “cautiously optimistic” about his eventual appeal. “I almost feel emboldened by Mr. Weinstein’s spirits and his desire to continue to fight these charges,” Aidala added.
Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping former aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
Jurors acquitted Weinstein on the two top charges, predatory sexual assault, which carried a maximum life sentence.
Those counts required jurors to consider accusations by the actress Annabella Sciorra, who testified that Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s.
The actress Ellen Barkin, a friend of Sciorra, tweeted on Tuesday: “Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein is still not in jail. He is in a private suite in Bellevue hospital. This is not what the jury had in mind.”
Weinstein’s guilty verdict was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which was fuelled by his case starting in late 2017.
Aidala said Weinstein was not being handcuffed at Bellevue. Weinstein was admitted to a unit that provides medical care for inmates.
A spokesman said earlier on Tuesday that Weinstein suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.
During the trial, the former producer appeared frail and used a walker.
The Rikers Island jail complex, whose main building went up in 1932, has long been plagued by violence and neglect. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed in 2017 to close it within a decade.
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