The 2020 rape conviction of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in New York has been overturned due to concerns over a fair trial.
The New York Court of Appeals ruled that prosecutors in the pivotal #MeToo case called witnesses whose accusations were not part of the charges against him, leading to an unfair trial. As a result, the court ordered a new trial.
Despite this decision, Weinstein, 72, will continue to serve a prison sentence for a separate rape conviction.
The court reached a 4-3 ruling on Thursday, stating that the trial “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.”
The decision also noted that the trial judge exacerbated the error by allowing Weinstein to be cross-examined in a manner that portrayed him in a “highly prejudicial” light.
“The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.”
One of the dissenting judges however said that with the decision, “this Court continues to thwart the steady gains survivors of sexual violence have fought for in our criminal justice system”.
Accusations against Weinstein surfaced in 2017, sparking the #MeToo movement, which exposed sexual abuse in Hollywood and beyond.
He was convicted in two trials: one in New York, where he received a 23-year sentence in 2020 for raping two women, and another in California, where he was sentenced last year to 16 years for raping a woman in a Beverly Hills hotel.
The decision in New York does not affect his California conviction. Weinstein is currently incarcerated at Mohawk Correctional Facility in New York state, having been previously extradited to LA for trial.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who inherited the case from his predecessor Cyrus Vance, will decide whether to retry Weinstein. Bragg’s office is also handling a criminal hush-money trial involving former president Donald Trump.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told the New York Times that the decision was a victory for both his client and “for every criminal defendant in the state of New York”, and commended the appeals court for “upholding the most basic principles that a criminal defendant should have in a trial”.
He added that his client had not immediately been informed of the ruling.
Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer who represented eight of Weinstein’s accusers, said the decision was “tragic” and “a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence”.
“Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts… the jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony,” he added. “It will require the victims to endure yet another trial.”
Weinstein co-founded the Miramax film studio, known for producing hits like Shakespeare in Love, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and Pulp Fiction. His eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.