Dike Onwuamaeze
An Appeal Court in New York has overturned the 2020 rape conviction against former Hollywood Movie Producer, Mr. Harvey Weinstein.
The decision was announced yesterday when the Appeal Court noted that the trial judge made improper rulings, which included allowing a woman to testify against Weinstein about allegations that were not a part of his case.
The Court of Appeals, in a four to three ruling, overturned Weinstein’s 23-year sentence because “the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” which it described as “an abuse of judicial discretion.”
The Court of Appeals agreed last year to take Weinstein’s case after an intermediate appeals court upheld his conviction. Prior to their ruling, judges on the lower appellate court had raised doubts about Burke’s conduct during oral arguments. One observed that Burke had let prosecutors pile on with “incredibly prejudicial testimony” from additional witnesses.
Appellate Chief Steven Wu stated that Weinstein’s acquittal on the most serious charges — two counts of predatory sexual assault and a first-degree rape charge involving actor Annabella Sciorra’s allegations of a mid-1990s rape — showed jurors were paying attention and they were not confused or overwhelmed by the additional testimony.
While Thursday’s ruling was a blow to #MeToo advocates, they noted that it was based on legal technicalities and not an exoneration of Weinstein’s behavior, saying the original trial irrevocably moved the cultural needle on attitudes about sexual assault.
But, Judge Madeline Singas, in her dissenting judgment wrote that the Court of Appeals was continuing a “disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”
Despite the ruling, Weinstein would remain in jail because he had been convicted of another rape in Los Angeles and sentenced to 16 years in December 2022.
Weinstein was found guilty in February 2020 in New York of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act in the first degree and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Weinstein was accused of rape in the third degree against an actress in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on a TV production assistant in 2006.
Reacting to the judgment, Weinstein’s Lawyer, Mr. Arthur Aidala, declared the court’s ruling “a tremendous victory for every criminal defendant in the state of New York.”
Aidala argued before the Court of Appeals in February that the trial judge swayed the case by allowing three women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case.
He stated that the extra testimony went beyond the normally allowable details about motive, opportunity, intent or a common scheme or plan, and essentially put Weinstein on trial for crimes he wasn’t charged with.
In appealing, Weinstein’s lawyers sought a new trial, but only for the criminal sexual act charge. They argued the rape charge could not be retried because it involved alleged conduct outside the statute of limitations.
However, Attorney Douglas H. Wigdor, who represented eight Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, including two witnesses at the New York criminal trial, called the ruling “a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence.”
Wigdor insisted that “courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts where they assist juries in understanding issues concerning the intent, modus operandi or scheme of the defendant.
“The jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony and overturning the verdict is tragic in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial.”
Also, another attorney, Ms. Debra Katz, a prominent civil rights and #MeToo attorney who represented several Weinstein accusers, said that her clients are “feeling gutted” by the ruling, but that she believed – and was telling them – that their testimony had changed the world.
“People continue to come forward, people continue to support other victims who’ve reported sexual assault and violence, and I truly believe there’s no going back from that,” Katz said, predicting that Weinstein would be convicted again at a retrial.
However, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has signaled its intention to retry Weinstein, and his accusers could again be forced to retell their stories on the witness stand.
Dozens of women had accused Weinstein, including famous actresses such as Ashley Judd and Uma Thurman.
But Weinstein maintained his innocence, insisting that the sexual activities were consensual.
