In a dramatic development, New York’s top court reversed Hollywood tycoon Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction because it believed his trial was not fair.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the prosecution had the right to call witnesses whose accusations had nothing to do with Weinstein’s charges. The decision stated that this resulted in his trial emphasising his prior conduct in addition to the offences for which he was charged.
Weinstein, 72, will stay behind bars despite this reversal because of another rape conviction.
The trial’s admission of testimony on uncharged s*xual activities that Weinstein allegedly perpetrated against people other than the victims in the case was criticised by the court in its 4-3 judgement on Thursday.
In addition, the court emphasised that the trial judge made matters worse by permitting Weinstein to be cross-examined in a way that was blatantly disparaging.
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Owing to these “egregious errors,” the court decided that a new trial is necessary.
In 2017, a number of allegations against Weinstein surfaced, sparking the #MeToo movement and starting Weinstein’s legal problems. These disclosures illuminated the pervasive s*xual assault that occurs both inside and outside of the Hollywood film industry.
Weinstein was tried in California, where he was given a 16-year term for raping a woman in a Beverly Hills hotel, and in New York, where he was found guilty of raping two women and given a 23-year jail sentence. Notably, the current ruling in New York has no bearing on the conviction from California. Harvey Weinstein’s
Following his extradition to Los Angeles for prosecution, Weinstein is still being held in a New York prison. Subsequent to Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will decide whether to seek a retrial.
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