New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial

New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein ’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

Weinstein, 72, will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. But the state Court of Appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office signaled its intention to retry Weinstein, and his accusers could again be forced to retell their stories on the witness stand.

In overturning Weinstein’s 23-year sentence in New York, the court said in its 4-3 decision that “the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.” The court’s majority called this “an abuse of judicial discretion.”
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New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court has overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

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BY MICHAEL R. SISAK AND DAVE COLLINS
Updated 11:18 AM EDT, April 25, 2024
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NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein ’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

Weinstein, 72, will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. But the state Court of Appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office signaled its intention to retry Weinstein, and his accusers could again be forced to retell their stories on the witness stand.

In overturning Weinstein’s 23-year sentence in New York, the court said in its 4-3 decision that “the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.” The court’s majority called this “an abuse of judicial discretion.”

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FILE - Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse for jury deliberations in his rape trial, Feb. 24, 2020, in New York. Nearly four years after Weinstein was convicted of rape and sent to prison, New York’s highest court will hear arguments Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, in his quest to overturn the landmark #MeToo-era verdict. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
New York’s top court appears torn on tossing Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction
Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse for his rape trial, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in New York. A jury convicted the Hollywood mogul of rape and sexual assault. The jury found him not guilty of the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault, which could have resulted in a life sentence.(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Weinstein case could influence other sex crime prosecutions
FILE - French actress Judith Godreche speaks during the 49th Cesar Award ceremony in Paris, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Godreche on Thursday urged lawmakers to establish a commission to investigate sex crimes and sexism in France's cinema industry. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
French actor urges lawmakers to investigate sex crimes and sexism in the film industry
In a stinging dissent, Judge Madeline Singas wrote that the majority was “whitewashing the facts to conform to a he-said/she-said narrative,” and said the Court of Appeals was continuing a “disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”

Weinstein has been in a New York prison since his conviction on charges of criminal sex acts for forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.

In the Los Angeles rape case, Weinstein was acquitted on charges involving one of the women who testified in New York.

Associated Press writer Dave Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. AP writers Jocelyn Noveck and Larry Neumeister in New York also contributed to this story.

Видео New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial канала Zachary Alan Betts