Weinstein Accusers Ashley Judd, Rosanna Arquette Thank Women Who Testified Against Him
Ashley Judd and Rosanna Arquette spoke out on social media after disgraced film executive Harvey Weinstein was found guilty on two charges ― a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
Both women had publicly accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in 2017 and on Monday tweeted notes of thanks to the women who testified against him over the course of the trial.
Arquette praised the jury for “seeing through the dirty tactics of the defense,” while Judd said that the women who “walked through traumatic hell” performed “a public service to girls and women everywhere.”
For the women who testified in this case, and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere, thank you.#ConvictWeinstein#Guilty
— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) February 24, 2020
Gratitude to the brave women who’ve testified and to the jury for seeing through the dirty tactics of the defense .we will change the laws in the future so that rape victims are heard and not discredited and so that it’s easier for people to report their rapes
— Rosanna Arquette (@RoArquette) February 24, 2020
The jury panel, which consisted of five women and seven men, did not find Weinstein guilty on the two most serious charges of predatory sexual assault.
Testimony on those charges came from aspiring actor Jessica Mann, who said Weinstein raped her in 2013, and former production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haleyi, who said he sexually assaulted her in 2006. Former “Sopranos” actor Annabella Sciorra, along with many other women, also testified in an effort to demonstrate the mogul’s inappropriate patterns.
In a statement, more than 20 of the at least 100 women who accused the 67-year-old of sexual misconduct ― a group known as the “silence breakers” ― expressed their distaste with Weinstein being acquitted of the predatory sexual assault charges, but felt justice in knowing that he will “forever be known...