April 29, 2024

Harvey Weinstein’s Rape Conviction Overturned

Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape convictions were overturned on Thursday. A retrial will take place, but the 16 year prison term in California remains unaffected. By Ching Wai.

US - The New York state Court of Appeals has overturned former film producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction on 25 April 2024. Weinstein is currently held in a New York prison, but is expected to be transferred in preparation for a new case. A separate 16-year sentence in California remains unaffected.

The highest court in the state’s judicial system ruled that the judge in the New York County trial made “egregious errors”, and was prejudiced against Weinstein with improper rulings. A retrial of the rape allegations was ordered to take place.

The improper rulings included allowing women to testify about allegations that were outside of the case.

Judge Jenny Rivera stated, “We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes because that testimony served no material non-propensity purpose. The court compounded that error when it ruled that [the] defendant, who had no criminal history, could be cross examined about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed [the] defendant in a highly prejudicial light. The synergistic effect of these errors was not harmless.”

A spokesperson for the Manhattan D.A.’s office said, “We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault.”

Weinstein had produced films, plays and musicals and won awards before the allegations, after which he was consequently dismissed from his company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 2017 allegations against Weinstein sparked the #MeToo campaign, as well as subsequent allegations against other powerful men. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York and 16 years in prison in California. The global phenomenon encouraged more people around the world to speak up against sexual abuse.

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