The Daily Populous Friday April 26th, 2024 night edition
Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by TheMusketDood

The rape conviction of movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been overturned by New York's highest court.

The New York Court of Appeals, in a scathing 4-3 opinion, overturned Weinstein's conviction on sex crimes against three women, finding the trial judge "erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes."

The court said that testimony "served no material non-propensity purpose" and "portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light."

Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told ABC News, "We are happily surprised and we are studying the ruling."

The Weinstein team, which was eagerly awaiting a ruling, was not expecting it to be in Weinstein's favor after a succession of rulings in different courts all went against Weinstein.

The Manhattan district attorney's office said it will retry Weinstein should the alleged victims be willing to come forward again.

"We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault," a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York Criminal Court for his sexual assault trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, Jan. 9, 2020. Brendan McDermid/Reuters, FILE

The decision elicited anger from several of those who accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct or who testified at the trial.

Judd, along with other alleged victims of Weinstein, held a press conference Thursday. She said she was informed of the judge's decision by the writer of the article that broke open the accusations.

"I was in disbelief when I heard from Jody Kanter of The New York Times about the decision," said Judd. "It's a stark reminder of the male entitlement that persists in our society. But today, as every day, I stand in sisterhood with all survivors."

Attorney Douglas H. Wigdor, who has represented eight alleged Weinstein victims, including two of the Molineux witnesses -- those not pertaining to the crimes charged -- at the New York criminal trial, said in a statement: "Today's decision is a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence. 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."

He continued, "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."

Weinstein was also convicted of sex offenses in Los Angeles and sentenced to 16 years in prison there.

Because Weinstein is already convicted in California, he will not be released, but instead transferred to the custody of prison authorities in California.

Weinstein, 72, was a well-known, powerful man within the entertainment industry and prosecutors said he abused his power to take advantage of aspiring female actors, like the alleged victims, to coerce them into unwanted sexual encounters. According to the prosecution, the quid pro quo of assisting them with their careers in exchange for sexual favors on demand was both common behavior and a well-known secret throughout the film industry.

An explosive New York Times article in October 2017 reported Weinstein had reached at least eight settlements with women who accused him of sexual misconduct over decades. The story, which featured actress Ashley Judd publicly accusing Weinstein of propositioning her in 1997, sparked an avalanche of accusations from women who came forward with similar accounts and largely kicked off the #MeToo movement, targeting prominent celebrities for sexual misconduct.

Weinstein was arrested on May 25, 2018, and charged with first- and third-degree rape for one victim, and first-degree criminal sex act for another woman. He was found guilty in February 2020 of two felonies -- criminal sexual assault and third-degree rape -- but acquitted of the two most serious charges -- predatory sexual assault. He was also acquitted of first-degree rape.

Harvey Weinstein appears in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Oct. 4 2022. Etienne Laurent/AP

Prosecutors said the testimony of women other than those whose claims formed the basis of the criminal charges spoke to Weinstein's state of mind to use forcible compulsion. The majority opinion, however, said that eviscerated the time-tested rule against propensity evidence, "which, in criminal cases, serves as a judicial bulwark against a guilty verdict based on supposition rather than proof."

Lindsay Goldbrum, who represents six Weinstein accusers, including Taralê Wulff, one of the Molineux witnesses to testify about being sexually assaulted by Weinstein during his criminal trial in New York, said in a statement: "This ruling is a leap backward for the rule of law. In New York, Molineux witnesses play a critical role in establishing a defendant's common scheme or plan to commit alleged crimes. When a defendant is accused of being a sexual predator, especially one as powerful as Weinstein, the testimony of Molineux witnesses is crucial to disproving the defense that sexual encounters were consensual."

The Court of Appeals decided the evidence of uncharged crimes allowed at trial "was unnecessary" to establish Weinstein's intent and "served only to establish defendant's propensity to commit the crimes charged."

The opinion also said the trial judge, James Burke, abused his discretion when he allowed Weinstein to be cross-examined about the uncharged conduct, ruling it "served no purpose other than to display for the jury defendant's loathsome character."

Weinstein's appellate case lawyer Arthur Aidala said in an Thursday press conference that the New York Court of Appeals deserves a "tremendous amount of credit" for overturning Weinstein's rape conviction.

"From the bottom of our hearts ... we knew that Harvey Weinstein did not get a fair trial," Aidala told reporters.

Aidala reiterated he believes the law must still be applied fairly to those society deems unpopular.

"The Court of Appeals ... said today that yes, no one is above the law, but no one is below the law either," he said. "You can't throw out 100 years of legal precedent because someone is unpopular."

ABC News' Jianna Cousin and Jason Volack contributed to this report.

Modz_B_Trippin on April 25th, 2024 at 14:00 UTC »

> Weinstein was also convicted of sex offenses in Los Angeles and sentenced to 16 years in prison there.

> Because Weinstein is already convicted in California, he will not be released, but instead transferred to the custody of prison authorities in California.

Don’t worry, his ass isn’t going free.

iamnotimportant on April 25th, 2024 at 13:42 UTC »

well it sounds like he'll be spending time in Prison in California instead now, embarrassing for NY though

Shadow328 on April 25th, 2024 at 13:22 UTC »

A news headline I never expected to see. Here is more info from the NYT.

New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges, a stunning reversal in the foundational case of the #MeToo era.

In a 4-3 decision, the New York Court of Appeals found that the trial judge who presided over Mr. Weinstein’s case had made a crucial mistake, allowing prosecutors to call as witnesses a series of women who said Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them — but whose accusations were not part of the charges against him.

Citing that decision and others it identified as errors, the appeals court determined that Mr. Weinstein, who as a movie producer had been one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, had not received a fair trial. The four judges in the majority wrote that Mr. Weinstein was not tried solely on the crimes he was charged with, but instead for much of his past behavior.

Now it will be up to the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg — already in the midst of a trial against former President Donald J. Trump — to decide whether to seek a retrial of Mr. Weinstein.

It was not immediately clear on Thursday morning how the decision would affect Mr. Weinstein, 71, who is being held in an upstate prison in Rome, N.Y. But he is not a free man. In addition to the possibility that the district attorney’s office may try him again, in 2022, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in California after he was convicted of raping a woman in a Beverly Hills hotel.

Mr. Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct by more than 100 women; in New York he was convicted of assaulting two of them. The Court of Appeals decision, which comes more than four years after a New York jury found Mr. Weinstein guilty, complicates the disgraced producer’s story and underscores the legal system’s difficulty in delivering redress to those who say they have been the victims of sex crimes.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/04/25/nyregion/harvey-weinstein-appeal