New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the top Hollywood producer whose downfall stood as a symbol of the #MeToo movement.
The court, by a 4-3 vote, ordered a new trial.
“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 ruling, written by Judge Jenny Rivera, states.
“The court compounded that error when it ruled that defendant, who had no criminal history, could be cross examined about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light. The synergistic effect of these errors was not harmless.”
Eight women who say they were sexually assaulted by movie producer Harvey Weinstein will testify at his criminal trial in Los Angeles over the coming weeks, prosecutors said in opening statements Monday.
“Each of these women came forward independent of each other, and none of them knew one another,” prosecutor Paul Thompson told the jury, according to reports.
Weinstein, 72, is being held at Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. He also was sentenced last year in Los Angeles to 16 years in prison for charges of rape and sexual assault.
Weinstein has maintained his innocence and has denied any nonconsensual sexual activity.
“Justice was served,” Donna Rotunno, the lead defense attorney at Weinstein’s trial in New York, said Thursday in response to the appeals court decision.
“I believe this decision is larger than Harvey Weinstein. Courts cannot operate on emotion and lack of due process. The world is off-balance, and when the justice system does not work, nothing does. This decision restores faith in the foundation of our system.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it will retry the case.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” said Emily Tuttle, deputy director of communications and senior advisor for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Douglas H. Wigdor, an attorney who has represented eight of Weinstein’s accusers, including two of the “prior bad acts” witnesses at his New York criminal trial, criticized the ruling.
“Today’s decision is a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence,” he said in a statement. “Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts where they assist juries in understanding issues concerning the intent, modus operandi or scheme of the defendant. The jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony and overturning the verdict is tragic in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial.”
The ruling comes more than six years after reporting by The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017 revealed Weinstein’s alleged history of sexual abuse, harassment and secret settlements as he used his influence as a Hollywood power broker to take advantage of young women.
As at 2016, Weinstein was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and helped produce movies such as “Pulp Fiction,” “Clerks” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
The revelations led to a wave of several women speaking publicly about the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and harassment in the entertainment , sports and political world in what became known as the #MeToo movement.
The #MeToo movement has had mixed success in the courtroom, and this is the second high-profile case to be overturned on appeal.
Celebrity comedian, Bill Cosby was convicted in 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, but a Pennsylvania appeals court overturned the conviction in 2021, saying his due process rights were violated.
