by Jeroslyn JoVonn
April 25, 2024
Harvey Weinstein’s New York intercourse crimes have been overturned and headed for a brand new trial.
Harvey Weinstein is becoming a member of Invoice Cosby by having his high-profile intercourse crimes case overturned by the appeals courtroom.
On Thursday, April 25, the New York Court docket of Appeals dominated to overturn Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction and order a brand new trial, CNN studies. In a 4-3 vote, the courtroom dominated the decide confirmed prejudice by permitting the testimony of “prior dangerous acts” from girls who shared accounts that had nothing to do with the case.
“We conclude that the trial courtroom erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts in opposition to individuals apart from the complainants of the underlying crimes as a result of that testimony served no materials non-propensity function,” the courtroom mentioned within the resolution.
“The courtroom compounded that error when it dominated that defendant, who had no felony historical past, might be cross examined about these allegations in addition to quite a few allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a extremely prejudicial gentle.”
In consequence, Weinstein, 72, will obtain a brand new trial with The Manhattan District Lawyer’s Workplace sharing plans to retry the case. The ruling comes over six years after the movie mogul was convicted of first-degree felony sexual act and third-degree rape and sentenced to 23 years in jail.
He stays held at Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York, the place he’s nonetheless serving out his Los Angeles sentence of 16 years in jail for rape and sexual assault prices. Weinstein has maintained his innocence and denies having any nonconsensual intercourse together with his alleged victims.
The Miramax founder noticed a drastic fall from grace following a 2017 report that unearthed his alleged historical past of sexual abuse, harassment, and secret settlements the place he used his affect as a Hollywood honcho to allegedly benefit from girls.
His authorized group is celebrating the newest ruling.
“We’re cautiously excited and want to check the ramifications of the attraction resolution,” Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer mentioned. “We all the time mentioned this was an unjust trial.”
The reversal of Weinstein’s case echoes Cosby’s overturned rape conviction in 2021, which originated from his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a lady. The Pennsylvania appeals courtroom nullified the conviction, citing violations of Cosby’s due course of rights.
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