Harvey Weinstein’s New York sex assault conviction is overturned as appeals court rules he didn’t have a fair trial
Harvey Weinstein has his New York rape conviction overturned.
The New York Court of Appeals ruled that the disgraced film producer did not receive a fair trial.
In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that the original judge erred in allowing women to testify who were not part of the case.
A new trial has been ordered to hold prosecutors accountable again.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York for two attacks in 2006 and 2013, which have now been overturned.
Harvey Weinstein has had his conviction for sex crimes in New York overturned
But he will continue to do so after being convicted of another rape in Los Angeles in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges leveled by one of the women who testified in New York.
He was initially convicted on charges of criminal sexual conduct for forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and third-degree rape for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.
The overturning of Weinstein’s conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in the past two years, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Pennsylvania court decision to overturn Bill Cosby’s sex abuse conviction explain.
Weinstein’s conviction lasted more than four years, was heralded as a landmark case by activists and advocates, but was just as quickly dissected by his lawyers and later by the Court of Appeals when it heard arguments on the case in February.
More to follow…