In a dramatic reversal of the nation’s landmark #MeToo demo, a New York appeals court docket on Thursday overturned the sex assault conviction of film mogul Harvey Weinstein, citing problems by the demo decide.
The state appeals court docket located, in a 4-3 final decision, that the choose who presided above Weinstein’s 2017 trial prejudiced the disgraced Hollywood motion picture mogul’s situation by allowing a series of females who explained Weinstein experienced assaulted them to serve as witnesses, even however their allegations ended up not component of the case.
“We conclude that the demo court docket erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts in opposition to people other than the complainants of the fundamental crimes because that testimony served no product non-propensity intent,” the court docket reported.
The court docket requested a new trial, arguing that the “synergistic impact of these errors was not harmless.”
“The only evidence from defendant was the complainants’ testimony, and the outcome of the court’s rulings, on the just one hand, was to bolster their reliability and diminish defendant’s character ahead of the jury,” the court docket added.
The Miramax co-founder has been serving a 23-yr sentence due to the fact he was convicted in 2020 of rape and a felony sex criminal offense immediately after allegedly assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haley and when-aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
Weinstein, who has denied all wrongdoing, appealed in 2021, citing a collection of difficulties, together with glitches at trial.
In the 160-webpage attractiveness, Weinstein’s lawful crew as soon as once again attacked the credibility of the six females who testified at his 2020 trial in decreased Manhattan. When most of the allegations ended up at minimum corroborated by the testimony of many others whom the females advised of the alleged assaults all over the time they took location, Weinstein’s legal group questioned why they stayed in speak to with the mogul — or in some conditions, continued possessing intercourse with him — right after the alleged crimes.
