While the New York chapter of Harvey Weinstein’s criminal prosecution is over, pending an appeal and sentencing, the legal saga will soon move to Los Angeles.
Last month, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey filed charges of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of restraint and sexual battery by restraint. The charges stemmed from allegations made by two women who claimed Weinstein assaulted them in separate incidents in hotels in Beverly Hills and West L.A. in 2013.
Even though the LAPD presented one of the cases to prosecutors in 2018, Lacey has defended the timing of the filing.
“We were working on investigating those cases. In regard to the victims in this case and other sexual assault cases, it was very challenging to get those victims to open up and tell us what they needed to tell us,” she said. “For some, it was very embarrassing — terrifying — and so [we] told them we were just working to get the evidence we need to get to court.”
Read the full story on LATimes.com.