New York court overturns Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was overturned Thursday by the New York Court of Appeals, a shocking reversal of a landmark case that helped launch the #MeToo movement. The court ordered a retrial, ruling that the judge in Weinstein’s original trial improperly allowed testimony about allegations that weren’t part of the case. “We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the court wrote in its 4-3 decision. Weinstein will remain in prison regardless because he is serving a 16-year sentence on a separate case in California, where he was convicted in 2022 of rape, forced oral copulation and sexual misconduct. In New York, the disgraced producer was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on a former production assistant, Mimi Haleyi, at his apartment in 2006, as well as rape in the third degree for an attack on aspiring actress Jessica Mann at a hotel in 2013. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted this case, pledged to retry Weinstein.
More From The Washington Post (subscription required):
Rss Feed