A New York appeals court panel voted 4-3 to overturn the 2020 rape conviction of Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein yesterday, ordering a new trial. The 72-year-old Weinstein will be moved to a prison in California where he was separately convicted of sex crimes in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years.
In the 2020 trial, prosecutors called several women who were not claimants in the assault case to testify to Weinstein's history of sexual misconduct. In yesterday's opinion (see breakdown), the appeals court argued that since these women's allegations were not included in the assault charges—because they involved harassment or had reached a statute of limitations—such testimony prejudiced the jury against Weinstein. Observers have long noted this weakness in the legal case.
In 2017, Weinstein became the centerpiece of a global #MeToo movement, which sought to expose the prevalence of sexual harassment. Dozens of accusations against him prompted similar allegations against hundreds of others.
Comments