Harvey Weinstein has rape conviction overturned – 04/25/2024 – Illustrated

New York state’s highest court on Thursday overturned one of Harvey Weinstein’s convictions for sexual crimes. Former Hollywood all-powerful and pivot of the MeToo movement, he received consecutive sentences, in 2020 and 2023, for rape and sexual abuse.

The conviction was overturned in 2020. In a 4-3 decision, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the judge who oversaw Weinstein’s conviction that year made a mistake by allowing other women whose allegations were not part of the case to testify .

According to the magistrates, in 2020 the former film producer was not only tried for the crimes he was accused of, but for much of his past behavior.

The court also said the judge compounded the error by allowing Weinstein to be cross-examined in a way that portrayed him in a “highly prejudicial” light. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,” the court said.

Now, it will be up to Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg — involved in a trial against former President Donald Trump — to decide whether to seek a new trial for Weinstein. The 2020 sentence was 23 years in prison, relating to two sexual crimes — forcing oral sex on a production assistant in 2006 and raping an actress in 2013.

Weinstein will remain in prison because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2023 of another rape, for which he received a 16-year prison sentence. At the time, he was acquitted of charges involving one of the women he testified to in New York.

Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s lawyer, told the New York Times that the annulment was not just a victory for his client, but for all defendants in New York state. He congratulated the Court of Appeals “for upholding the most basic principles that a criminal defendant must have at trial.”

Thursday’s decision reopens a painful chapter in the US regarding sexual misconduct by powerful figures, an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. If a new trial takes place, victims may be forced to relive their trauma once again on the witness stand.

Victims of Weinstein shared their outrage at the decision. Actress Ashley Judd, one of the first people to publicly accuse Weinstein, told the New York Times: “This is very difficult for survivors. We still live in our truth. And we know what happened.”