Citing Williams v. New York repeatedly, NY prosecutors urge judge to consider Harvey Weinstein's "lifetime of abuse" at sentencing

As reported in this USA Today piece, headlined "Harvey Weinstein prosecutors seek tough sentence for his 'lifetime of abuse'," state prosecutors delivered to the sentencing judge in the Weinstein case a notable 11-page letter urging the judge to focus on a whole lot of uncharged conduct at this week's upcoming scheduled sentencing. Here are the basics:

Harvey Weinstein's sentence for his conviction on two sex crimes should reflect his "lifetime of abuse" as shown at his trial and in 36 other cases of sexual harassment and assault, workplace abuse and even physically assaulting a reporter, Manhattan prosecutors said in a letter to the trial judge released Friday.

The 11-page letter from Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi was sent to Judge James Burke in advance of Weinstein's sentencing on March 11, when prosecutors are expected to make an oral statement in court about the sentence.

The trial evidence, the testimony of the six accusers who took the stand, and additional allegations outlined in the letter, Illuzzi said, "show a lifetime of abuse towards others, sexual and otherwise." She asked the judge to "impose a sentence that reflects the seriousness of defendant's offenses, his total lack of remorse for the harm he has caused, and the need to deter him and others from engaging in further criminal conduct."

Weinstein was convicted Feb. 24 of third-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault involving two women, and was acquitted of three more serious charges. He could be sentenced to prison for a term ranging from five years to 25 years....

Prosecutors, who want Weinstein's sentence to fall at the longer end of the spectrum, compiled a list of accusations they collected over two years to demonstrate that Weinstein is a predator, even if he's been convicted of only two crimes. "As this court is well aware, in imposing what it deems to be a fair and just punishment, a sentencing court is not limited to the evidence at trial," Illuzzi wrote, citing precedent to argue that the judge has "wide discretion to consider all circumstances that shed light on a convicted person's background, history and behavior" in considering a sentence.

"Chief among the information considered at sentencing is the defendant's history of 'misconduct, whether or not it resulted in convictions,' " Illuzzi said, citing precedents in several federal cases.

Arthur Aidala, one of Weinstein's defense lawyers, told USA TODAY his team has no comment on the prosecution's letter. He said they expect to issue their own pre-sentencing letter to the judge on Monday....

The prosecution list of 36 allegations is divided into three categories: alleged acts of sexual assault and harassment; alleged abusive behavior in the work environment; and other alleged "bad acts." The earliest alleged sexual assault occurred in 1978 when an employee of his music promotion company in Buffalo said she was forced to share a New York City hotel room with Weinstein and woke up to find him raping her. The most recent alleged assault occurred in 2014 at the Cannes Film Festival where he allegedly trapped a woman in a hotel room bathroom and groped her while masturbating.

The full 11-page letter is available at this link, and it makes quite the interesting read. Hard-core sentencing fans know that, over seventy years ago, the Supreme Court upheld the use of uncharged conduct at sentencing in a case from New York, Williams v. New York, 337 U.S. 241 (1949).  Fittingly, Williams is the cited and quoted repeatedly in this sentencing letter from prosecutors to the sentencing judge.