The decision by the state Court of Appeals reopens a sad chapter in America’s reckoning with prominent people’s sexual misconduct—a period that started in 2017 with a barrage of accusations against Harvey Weinstein.
Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was reversed by New York’s highest court on Thursday. The court determined that the judge at the historic #MeToo trial unfairly favored the former movie tycoon by making incorrect decisions, including letting women testify about allegations that were unrelated to the case.
The State Court of Appeals’ decision reopens a difficult chapter in America’s history dealing with prominent people’s sexual misconduct—a period that started in 2017 with a wave of accusations against Harvey Weinstein. The judge mandated a fresh trial. On the witness stand, his accusers might be made to relive their horrors once more.
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Following his conviction on charges of criminal sex act for forcing a TV and film production assistant to perform oral sex on him in 2006 and rape in the third degree for attacking an aspiring actress in 2013, Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year term in a New York jail.
He was found guilty of a second rape in Los Angeles in 2022 and given a 16-year prison sentence; as a result, he will remain behind bars. Regarding allegations involving one of the women who testified in New York, Weinstein was found not guilty in Los Angeles.
Weinstein’s attorneys contended that the prosecution’s victories against Judge James Burke’s decisions had made the trial into 1-800-GET-HARVEY.
The reversal of Weinstein’s conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in the last two years after the US 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.
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