New York appeals court overturns Weinstein’s rape conviction

NEW YORK

New York’s highest court on April 25 overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

The state Court of Appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. The court ordered a new trial. His accusers could again be forced to relive their traumas on the witness stand.

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 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.

He will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges involving one of the women who testified in New York.

Hollywood stars, including multiple actresses who have accused Harvey Weinstein of assault, reacted with shock and outrage after the former movie producer's conviction was overturned.

Rosanna Arquette, Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino were among those to speak out as Weinstein's 2020 conviction for rape and sexual assault was reversed.

"This is unfair to survivors. We live in our truth. We know what happened" -- Ashley Judd, the first actress to come forward with allegations against Weinstein, via Instagram.

The reversal of Weinstein’s conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in the last two years, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Pennsylvania court decision to throw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

Weinstein’s conviction stood for more than four years, heralded by activists and advocates as a milestone achievement, but dissected just as quickly by his lawyers and, later, the Court of Appeals when it heard arguments on the matter in February.

Tarana Burke, who nearly two decades ago coined the phrase “Me too” from her work with sexual assault survivors, said,”The #MeToo reckoning is greater than any court case. It’s still there, and it’s working.”

The most obvious proof, Burke said: “Ten years ago we could not get a man like Harvey Weinstein into the courtroom."

The movement, she said, was responsible for that huge cultural shift — regardless of the Hollywood mogul's ultimate legal fate.