New York court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction in 2020

The New York Court of Appeal this Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, concluding that the judge in the MeToo trial harmed the former movie mogul with “flagrant” improper decisions.

The same judge also justified the annulment of the conviction with the previous decision to allow women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case.

“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of previous, uncharged, alleged sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the ruling said.

“The solution to these egregious errors is a new trial,” it reads.

The decision by the New York State Court of Appeal reopens a painful chapter in the United States of America (USA) regarding sexual misconduct by powerful figures.

A period that began in 2017, with a chain of accusations against Weinstein. His accusers may now be forced once again to retell their stories on the witness stand.

Jurors speak of “abuse”

The majority of jurors said “it is an abuse of judicial discretion to allow untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but does not shed light on his credibility regarding the criminal charges brought against” Weinstein.

Conversely, Judge Madeline Singas wrote that the Court of Appeal continued a “disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”

“The majority’s ruling perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability,” wrote Judge Madeline Singas.

Harvey Weinstein, 72, is serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison after being convicted of sexual abuse with a television and film production assistant in 2006 and third-degree rape of an aspiring actress. actress, in 2013.

Weinstein will remain in prison

The former tycoon will remain in prison, as he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Los Angeles, in 2022, for another rape. Harvey Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles of charges involving one of the women he testified to in New York.

The reversal of Weinstein’s conviction is the second in the MeToo movement in the last two years, after the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Pennsylvania court’s decision to throw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

Harvey Weinstein was responsible for the film studio that made films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “The Passion of Shakespeare” that won Oscars and was the target of accusations from actresses such as Ashley Judd and Uma Thurman.

Weinstein’s trial lasted more than four years and he is currently imprisoned in the state of New York, at the Mohawk Correctional Center, about 160 kilometers northwest of Albany.