New York's highest court has ordered a new trial for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The state Court of Appeals ruled Thursday morning that the judge in Weinstein's 2020 rape case prejudiced Weinstein with improper rulings, including a decision to let accusers testify against Weinstein even though their accusations weren't part of the case.
Deadline reports:
In a 4-3 ruling, the New York Court of Appeals flipped Weinstein's conviction, stating the judge in charge of the trial “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.”
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“Defendant was convicted by a jury for various sexual crimes against three named complainants and, on appeal, claims that he was judged, not on the conduct for which he was indicted, but on irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior bad acts,” Judge Jenny Rivera wrote in the Appeals Court ruling.
“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes because that testimony served no material non-propensity purpose,” Judge Rivera added. “The court compounded that error when it ruled that defendant, who had no criminal history, could be cross examined about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light. The synergistic effect of these errors was not harmless.”
Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison following his conviction on charges of criminal sex act for forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 alongside rape in the third degree for an attack on an actress in 2013. Though he made a public apology for decades of misconduct against soon after the explosive New York Times expose of October 2017, Weinstein has always insisted on his innocence, and maintained that all the sex was consensual.
The news has left the “Pulp Fiction” producer cautiously optimist. “We are studying the ramifications of the appeal right now,” Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said.
For now, Weinstein remains behind bars.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
