Harvey Weinstein’s conviction for felony sex crime charges has been overturned by the New York Court of Appeals.
Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault against two women who had been pursuing a career in the film industry. In a 4-3 decision, New York’s highest court ruled the original judge made “egregious errors” in the 2020 trial by allowing prosecutors to call witnesses whose allegations were not related to the charges at hand.
As a result, the former Hollywood producer is entitled to a new trial, the court wrote.
“The only evidence against defendant was the complainants’ testimony, and the result of the court’s rulings, on the one hand, was to bolster their credibility and diminish defendant’s character before the jury,” the decision read. “On the other hand, the threat of a cross-examination highlighting these untested allegations undermined defendant’s right to testify.”
The decision comes after Weinstein’s attorneys argued “he was judged, not on the conduct for which he was indicted, but on irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior bad acts.”
Weinstein will remain in prison as he completes a 16-year sentence in California after he was convicted of rape in 2022.
Ashley Judd, a mental health advocate and the first actress to come forward with allegations about Mr Weinstein, told The New York Times this decision is “unfair to survivors.”
“We still live in our truth,” Ms Judd told the outlet. “And we know what happened.”
In the dissenting opinion, Judge Madeline Singas wrote the court’s decision “has continued a disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”
“Fundamental misunderstandings of sexual violence perpetrated by men known to, and with significant power over, the women they victimize are on full display in the majority’s opinion,” Judge Singas wrote.
The many women who came forward with allegations against Weinstein beginning in 2017 were some of the first to herald in the #MeToo movement, a viral campaign against sexual assault and rape culture.
More to come…