A court in New York has invalidated the 2020 conviction of Harvey Weinstein (72). The man was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual abuse. It is not clear whether a new trial will follow, the prosecutor must now decide whether to prosecute the former Hollywood producer again.
Thursday April 25, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Weinstein was convicted by a New York court in 2020 of two counts of rape and sexual abuse and sentenced to 23 years in prison. However, a higher court in New York ruled on Thursday that the judge at the time made a crucial error: he allowed the prosecutor to let dozens of women testify about sexual assault by Weinstein, even though those facts were not part of the charges facing the man. was on trial at that time.
© AFP
According to four of the seven judges of the New York Court of Appeals, this is reason enough to overturn Weinstein’s conviction. They call them “egregious errors” that have prevented a fair trial. “We conclude that the trial court erred in admitting testimony regarding alleged sexual conduct against persons other than the plaintiffs in the underlying crimes,” court documents read.
New process?
The decision does not mean that there will automatically be a new trial against Weinstein. It is up to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to make that decision. According to the AP news agency, the court does recommend that the lawsuit be repeated.
In any case, Weinstein will not be released: the man was also sentenced to sixteen years in prison in 2023 for a rape case in California, and that conviction still stands. Weinstein is currently serving his sentence in a New York prison.
Before the scandal, Weinstein was known as one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood. His conviction was seen as a historic event at the time, and the revelations about his misconduct sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017.