Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Guidelines permitted Justice James Burke to go as high as 29 years or as low as five.
It would not have been surprising to see Weinstein receive something closer to that minimum.
Stop for a moment.
To put 23 years in perspective, think about where Harvey Weinstein was 23 years ago.
Miramax at the height of its fame was a small company …
I couldnt blackball anybody.
A small company, owned by the biggest one imaginable.
He was outright lying.
But that makes total sense, since Harvey Weinsteins life 23 years ago was a lie, too.
The sexual harassment part of her lawsuit wasdismissed last year.
Its what women are used to.
At the Sundance Film Festival in 1997, Rose McGowan saysWeinstein raped herafter inviting her to his hotel suite.
She described the event to writer Ronan Farrow as a horrible trauma.
But even then, it seemed like there might be a limit to how much punishment he would receive.
Such a comeback didnt seem that far out of the realm of possibility.
After Weinstein was sentenced, his lawyer, Donna Rotunno, called his 23-year sentence obscene.
I am overcome with anger at that number, she said.
I think that number is a cowardly number to give.
On the contrary, I think its just right.
Hell have 23 years to revisit the things he did and know he cant change them now.
Its what Weinstein deserves.
