Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years in New York state prison on Wednesday, September 23, for sexually assaulting former television production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. Judge Curtis Farber imposed the term in Manhattan after a jury convicted Weinstein of a first-degree criminal sexual act at a 2025 retrial, the Manhattan district attorney's office said. The sentence follows years of appeals and repeat proceedings in one of the entertainment industry's most closely watched criminal cases.
The case began with a 2020 New York conviction for assaults involving Haley and aspiring actress Jessica Mann, which brought a 23-year prison sentence. New York's highest court overturned those verdicts in 2024, finding that testimony about allegations outside the charges had unfairly prejudiced the trial. At the 2025 retrial, jurors convicted Weinstein on the charge involving Haley, acquitted him on a separate charge involving former model Kaja Sokola and failed to agree on the charge involving Mann, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
A further trial on Mann's allegation ended without a verdict in May 2026. Prosecutors dropped that charge the following month after Mann said she did not want to testify again, Reuters reported. Haley addressed the court before Wednesday's sentencing and described the lasting effect of the assault and the repeated legal proceedings, according to AP. The Manhattan district attorney's office said prosecutors had requested 20 years; AP reported that the defense sought a nine-year total term, taking account of the more than six years Weinstein has already spent in custody.
Weinstein, 74, has repeatedly denied sexually assaulting anyone or having nonconsensual sex. A spokesperson said he maintains his innocence and strongly disagrees with Farber's sentence, Reuters reported. District Attorney Alvin Bragg praised Haley's perseverance after the hearing. Weinstein co-founded Miramax and became a central figure in the public reckoning over sexual misconduct in the film industry after allegations against him emerged in 2017.
The New York sentence is separate from a California case. A California appeals court upheld Weinstein's 2022 rape and sexual assault convictions in June 2026 but ordered a new sentencing because the original 16-year term had taken account of the New York convictions later overturned, Reuters and AP reported. The California punishment therefore still requires a new decision; the two cases have distinct legal histories and should not be added together as a confirmed combined prison term.
Wednesday's decision sets a new prison term for the surviving New York conviction after the original judgment was set aside. Weinstein can appeal, while California must determine a replacement sentence in its case, according to AP. The ruling closes the current New York sentencing stage but leaves those legal steps pending. For Haley, who testified twice, it marks another major decision in a case that has continued for more than six years.
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