After nine days of deliberations, jurors in Los Angeles found the former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of raping one woman, but either found him not guilty or could not decide on other charges. Mr. Weinstein, whose downfall in the wake of sexual misconduct accusations helped propel the #MeToo movement, had already been convicted of sexual assault and rape in New York, but the case is under appeal.
The charges in Los Angeles related to four women who accused Mr. Weinstein, 70, of assaulting them in Los Angeles County between 2004 and 2013. He was convicted on three of the charges, all related to one accuser referred to as Jane Doe 1: forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by a foreign object and forcible rape.
The jury could not decide on three other charges against him, related to other accusers, and found him not guilty on one count.
Prosecutors called Mr. Weinstein a “predator” who had used his power in the film industry to lure women to meet with him, then isolated and assaulted them.
Defense lawyers argued that the sex was consensual, that the women were exaggerating about the physical contact in some instances and that one of the accusers was lying altogether. They focused on inconsistencies in the accusers’ accounts and drew attention to cordial communications between them and Mr. Weinstein after the encounters.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, was among the women who testified against Mr. Weinstein, saying that he assaulted and raped her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2005. The jury did not decide on the two counts related to her accusations.
Mr. Weinstein has 21 years left to serve for his 2020 conviction in New York, but the state’s highest court agreed in August to consider his appeal. The possibility that he could win release there raised the stakes for the trial in California.
