Harvey Weinstein seems in felony court docket in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Picture by way of AP)
Because the #MeToo motion took off, a large number of male Hollywood stars have been accused of intercourse crimes, however solely a handful of these within the music and movie industries have really confronted felony fees.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has now joined that brief listing of prosecuted stars.
Here’s a listing of a few of the most outstanding males to face felony fees in recent times and the result of these circumstances:
Harvey Weinstein
The ex-movie mogul was prosecuted in each New York and California after dozens of girls got here ahead to publicly accuse him of sexual assault.
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Within the Los Angeles case, a jury convicted Weinstein in 2022 of raping and sexually assaulting one among 4 ladies he was charged with abusing. The three responsible counts concerned an Italian actor and mannequin who mentioned Weinstein appeared at her resort room, uninvited, throughout a Los Angeles movie competition in 2013.
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Weinstein, 72, was later acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by a therapeutic massage therapist who handled him at a resort in 2010. The jury was unable to succeed in a choice on counts involving two different accusers. A mistrial was declared on these counts.
Within the New York case, Weinstein was initially convicted in 2020 of raping one lady and sexually assaulting one other, adopted weeks of harrowing and graphic testimony from a string of accusers. However his 23-year jail sentence and conviction was overturned earlier this yr, with New York’s highest court docket saying the trial decide unfairly allowed testimony primarily based on allegations that weren’t a part of the case.
A retrial has been scheduled and Manhattan prosecutors this week introduced a brand new indictment with further allegations from one other lady. The trial had been scheduled to begin in November however is now unlikely to start till 2025.
READ: How Hollywood stars react to Harvey Weinstein ruling
Weinstein, who additionally faces a number of civil lawsuits introduced by ladies accusing him of sexual misconduct, denies sexually assaulting anybody and is interesting his California conviction.
Invoice Cosby
Invoice Cosby arrives for his sentencing listening to on the Montgomery County Courthouse, Sept. 24, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (AP Picture/Matt Slocum, File)
The former “Cosby Present” star was the primary movie star to go on trial within the #MeToo period.
He was arrested in 2015 when a district legal professional armed with newly unsealed proof – Cosby’s damaging deposition in a lawsuit introduced by Temple College sports activities administrator Andrea Constand – filed fees towards him simply days earlier than the 12-year statute of limitations was about to expire. Constand accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her.
The AP doesn’t usually determine sexual assault victims with out their permission, which Constand has granted.
Jurors couldn’t attain a unanimous verdict when Cosby was placed on trial in 2017. At a second trial in 2018, he was convicted and sentenced to as much as a decade in jail. However the Pennsylvania Supreme Courtroom in 2021 mentioned the district legal professional who made the choice to arrest Cosby was obligated to face by a predecessor’s promise to not cost Cosby, although there was no proof that settlement was ever put in writing.
Cosby, now 87, has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by greater than 60 ladies. He has denied all allegations involving intercourse crimes.
R. Kelly
R. Kelly leaves the Daley Heart after a listening to in his baby assist case, Could 8, 2019, in Chicago. (AP Picture/Matt Marton, File)
Federal juries in Chicago and New York convicted Kelly, now 56, of crimes that embody producing baby sexual abuse supplies and federal intercourse trafficking fees.
Born Robert Sylvester Kelly, he was sentenced to 30 years within the New York case final yr and a principally concurrent 20-year sentence in February within the Chicago case.
The 57-year-old was accused of utilizing his fame to sexually abuse younger followers, together with some who have been simply kids, in a scientific scheme that went on for many years.
The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling songwriter additionally was accused of utilizing his entourage of managers and aides to satisfy women and hold them from talking out, an operation that prosecutors mentioned amounted to a felony enterprise.
Attorneys for R. Kelly are interesting his convictions.
Sean “Diddy” Combs
Sean “Diddy” Combs seems on the premiere of “Can’t Cease, Gained’t Cease: A Unhealthy Boy Story” on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. (AP Picture by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
The hip-hop mogul was arrested in New York on Sept. 16 and was accused in an indictment of utilizing his ” energy and status ” to induce feminine victims and male intercourse employees into drug-fueled sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs.”
Prosecutors mentioned he used violence and threats of blackmail to maintain individuals from talking out. Combs, 54, faces federal racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking fees that might put him in jail for a minimum of 15 years if he’s convicted on all counts.
A decide Wednesday, Sept. 18, rejected the hip-hop mogul’s proposal that he await his intercourse trafficking trial within the luxurious of his Florida mansion as a substitute of a federal jail in Brooklyn.
Kevin Spacey
Actor Kevin Spacey walks outdoors Southwark Crown Courtroom in London, July 26, 2023. (AP Picture/Alberto Pezzali, File)
Final yr, a London jury acquitted the Oscar-winning actor of sexual assault fees stemming from allegations by 4 males courting again 20 years.
Three males accused Spacey of aggressively grabbing their crotches, describing him as “vile” and a “slippery, snaky” predator. Spacey mentioned he was a “massive flirt” who had consensual flings with males and whose solely misstep was touching a person’s groin whereas making a “clumsy move.”
The court docket victory in England got here after Spacey additionally efficiently defended himself towards a civil lawsuit in New York in 2022 introduced by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. seems in court docket, Jan. 22, 2020, in New York. (Alec Tabak/The Every day Information by way of AP, Pool, File)
The Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star pleaded responsible in 2022 to forcibly kissing a employee at a New York nightclub in 2018 — and in return prosecutors dropped fees involving two different ladies that might have led to a potential jail time period if the case had gone to trial and resulted in a conviction.
Gooding additionally publicly apologized for the primary time to 2 different ladies who accused him of comparable conduct in separate encounters, calling himself a “movie star determine” who meant no hurt. His admissions have been a part of a plea deal that got here almost three years after Gooding was arrested.
Gooding informed the decide he “kissed the waitress on her lips” with out consent.
Danny Masterson
Danny Masterson arrives at an occasion, March 24, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Picture by Annie I. Bang/Invision/AP, File)
“That ’70s Present” star is serving a sentence of 30 years to life in jail for raping two ladies.
After an preliminary jury failed to succeed in verdicts on three counts of rape in December 2022 and a mistrial was declared, prosecutors retried Masterson on all three counts.
At his second trial, a jury discovered Masterson responsible of two of three rape counts on Could 31. Each assaults came about in Masterson’s Hollywood-area dwelling in 2003, when he was on the peak of his fame.
They may not attain a verdict on the third rely, an allegation that Masterson additionally raped a longtime girlfriend.
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Prosecutors alleged that Masterson used his prominence within the Church of Scientology – the place all three ladies have been additionally members on the time – to keep away from penalties for many years after the assaults, and the ladies blamed the church for his or her hesitancy in going to police about Masterson.
