NEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for sexual assault and rape was overturned by New York’s highest court, reopening the landmark case that launched the #MeToo movement and highlighting the challenges of holding powerful men accountable.
In a bitterly divided 4-3 decision on Thursday, the state Court of Appeals said the trial judge made a critical mistake by letting women testify that Weinstein assaulted them, even though their accusations were not part of the charges he faced.
The court said the trial judge compounded the error by letting Weinstein be cross-examined on a broad range of “loathsome” conduct, including bullying and fits of anger toward associates, that portrayed him in a “highly prejudicial” light. “It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges,” Judge Jenny Rivera wrote for the majority. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,” she added.
Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York. He is not expected to be freed immediately, as he also faces a separate 16-year prison term in California after being convicted there last year for the 2013 rape of an actress at a Los Angeles hotel.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose predecessor Cyrus Vance brought the New York case, will decide whether to retry Weinstein.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for Bragg, said in an email.
In a sharp dissent, Judge Madeline Singas said the decision “perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence” and makes holding defendants accountable for sexual assault “significantly more difficult.” She also accused the majority of whitewashing the facts and continuing a “disturbing trend” of overturning jury verdicts in sexual violence cases. “New York’s women deserve better,” Singas wrote.
CAIRO: Hamas negotiators began intensified talks on Saturday on a possible Gaza truce that would see a halt to the...
NEW DELHI: Top Indian Olympic wrestlers have criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party for fielding the son of...
MOSCOW: Russia is ready to consider “serious” proposals to settle the Ukraine conflict based on existing...
NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition Congress party said on Friday that Rahul Gandhi, the face of the party and its...
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Friday it had detected a renewed incursion by Chinese military aircraft...
KYIV: Ukraine can use British weapons inside Russian territory, former British prime minister David Cameron said on...
LONDON: Britain’s opposition Labour Party won a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday and control of...
NEW YORK: Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, testified on Friday that staffers on his 2016 presidential...