Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape conviction overturned due to judge’s ‘crucial mistake’

Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction has been overturned by the New York Court of Appeals.

Weinstein was found guilty in 2020 of raping and sexual assaulting two women who had been pursuing careers in the film industry.

In a 4-3 decision on Thursday, New York’s highest court ruled that the original trial judge made “egregious errors” by allowing prosecutors to call witnesses whose allegations were not related to the charges at hand.

As a result, the former Hollywood producer is entitled to a new trial, the court wrote.

However the decision does not mean that Weinstein, who is currently imprisoned in upstate New York, will immediately walk free. The disgraced movie mogul still faces a 16-year sentence in California, where he was convicted of rape in 2022.

The former producer is not yet aware that his conviction has been overturned, spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told The Independent on Thursday morning. Mr Engelmayer was “taken by surprise” by the court’s decision, he said.

In their filing to New York Court of Appeals, Weinstein’s attorneys argued that “he was judged, not on the conduct for which he was indicted, but on irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior bad acts.”

The Court of Appeals sided with this argument.

“The only evidence against defendant was the complainants’ testimony, and the result of the court’s rulings, on the one hand, was to bolster their credibility and diminish defendant’s character before the jury,” the decision read. “On the other hand, the threat of a cross-examination highlighting these untested allegations undermined defendant’s right to testify.”

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Madeline Singas wrote the appeals court decision “has continued a disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”

“Fundamental misunderstandings of sexual violence perpetrated by men known to, and with significant power over, the women they victimize are on full display in the majority’s opinion,” Judge Singas wrote.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said on Thursday that it will aim to retry the case.

“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokesperson toldThe Independent, in a statement.

The many women who came forward with allegations against Weinstein beginning in 2017 were some of the first to herald in the #MeToo movement, a viral campaign against sexual assault and rape culture. More than 100 women in Hollywood came forward against the disgraced producer, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Uma Thurman.

Ashley Judd, a mental health advocate and the first actress to come forward with allegations about Mr Weinstein, told The New York Times on Thursday this decision is “unfair to survivors.”

“We still live in our truth,” Ms Judd told the outlet. “And we know what happened.”

Douglas Wigdor, an attorney representing eight women who came forward against Weinstein, criticised the decision.

“Today’s decision is a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence,” he said in a statement.

Lindsay Goldbrum, who represented another six women who came forward, called the decision was a “leap backward for the rule of law” and could deter future sexual assault victims from coming forward.

“To all victims of sexual assault who are retraumatized by today’s ruling, I am so sorry,” she told NBC News.

Ms Goldbrum’s clients included Tarale Wulff, who testified that Weinstein raped in her 2005.

This decision comes after Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction was thrown out in Pennsylvania in 2021, allowing him to walk free. Cosby’s trial was another notable case that stemmed from women who came forward during the #MeToo movement.

More to come…