2024-04-25 14:58:00
Editor’s note: This report contains descriptions of sexual assault.
Thursday morning the highest court in the state of New York the 2020 felony sex crime conviction of former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and ordered a new trial. Weinstein is already serving a 23 year sentence in New York based on that belief. The Manhattan district attorney’s office told NPR it intends to retry the case.
The New York State Court of Appeals ruled in a 4-3 decision that Weinstein did not receive a fair trial, in part because the trial judge allowed testimony from women whose allegations were not part of that case. (In total, more than 100 women have made public allegations once morest Weinstein.)
Judge Jenny Rivera, for the majority, wrote in part in the ruling: “We conclude that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts once morest persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes because that evidence lacked any material – propensity purpose… The only evidence once morest defendant [Weinstein] was the complainants’ testimony, and the result of the court’s rulings … was to strengthen their credibility and diminish the defendant’s character before the jury.”
It will now be with the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg Jr., to launch a new trial once morest Weinstein. Bragg is currently involved in another very high-profile case: the New York trial of former President Donald Trump, who has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. A spokesperson for the DA’s office told NPR in a written statement Thursday: “We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault.”
Despite the New York court’s decision, a conviction once morest Weinstein still stands for now. In February 2023, a judge in Los Angeles sentenced Weinstein to a 16 years in prison on a separate conviction for rape and sexual assault. This sentence must be served consecutively following the prison sentence in New York. As of Thursday morning, Weinstein was being held in New York state, at the Mohawk Correctional Facility.
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