Harvey Weinstein taken to hospital with chest pains straight after being jailed for 23 years
Disgraced producer in Bellevue Hospital in New York after falling ill at Rikers Island
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Your support makes all the difference.Harvey Weinstein was taken to hospital suffering from chest pains shortly after he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual assault and third-degree rape, his spokesperson said.
Juda Englemayer said the disgraced producer experienced chest pains at Rikers Island and was transferred to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
He said: "We appreciate the care and concern of the Department of Corrections officers and staff." Weinstein was expected to remain in hospital overnight.
Hours earlier he was sentenced to 23 years in prison in a New York courtroom after being convicted of two felony sex crimes. It was the culmination of a two-year fall from grace for the once influential Hollywood producer, after his sexual abuse of women was revealed.
The former movie mogul was convicted on 24 February of sexual assault and third-degree rape, but was acquitted on more serious counts of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape.
Justice James Burke told Weinstein that he was certifying him as a sex offender, before sentencing him to 20 years in prison for the criminal sex act and three years for the rape charge. There was an audible gasp in the courtroom. The sentences are to be served consecutively and will be followed by five years' post-release supervision.
All six of the women who testified against Weinstein sat together in the front row of the courtroom – Miriam Haley, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Tarale Wulff, Dawn Dunning and Lauren Marie Young – and they embraced, tearfully, once the sentence had been delivered.
There are at least 13 more women who have accused Weinstein of rape or sexual assault. Before imposing the sentence, Justice Burke said: "I will say that although this is a first conviction it is not a first offence."
Asking for the maximum sentence of 29 years, the lead prosecutor, Joan Illuzzi said that Weinstein had "walked the red carpet and mingled with the stars and held the dreams of many people in his hands. He saw no limit to what he could take, no limit to what he could grant himself. He could take what he wanted."
In front of a packed courtroom, both Ms Mann and Ms Haley gave victim impact statements.
"He had crushed a part of my spirit. If he was not convicted of rape and sexual assault by this jury it would have happened again and again. I'm relieved there are women who are safer because he is not out there," said Ms Haley.
She said that Weinstein "not only stripped me of my dignity as a human being and as a woman ... it diminished my confidence and faith in myself".
Weinstein was taken straight to hospital with chest pains after hearing the verdict against him on 24 February. His lawyers argued in court that his ill health – with heart and back problems – meant he deserved only a short jail sentence.
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