A New York appeals court moved on Thursday to overturn the 2020 rape conviction of former Miramax producer Harvey Weinstein, citing “egregious” rulings that allowed allegations unrelated to the charges to be introduced in testimony.
The court’s 4-3 ruling came down in Weinstein’s favor, leaving it up to prosecutors whether or not they will try him again.
“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 decision read in part. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.”
“It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them,” the decision continued.
The virtual flood of accusations against Weinstein — whose accusers included “Charmed” star Rose McGowan and others — cascaded in 2017 following a New Yorker exposé written by Ronan Farrow. What followed was a slew of additional accusations against Weinstein, which sparked the #MeToo movement.
Judge Madeline Singas penned a dissent on behalf of the minority, saying that the decision meant the court was “whitewashing the facts to conform to a he-said/she-said narrative,” following a “disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”
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“The majority’s determination perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability,” she wrote.
Weinstein will remain in prison — despite the New York conviction being overturned — because his 2022 conviction in Los Angeles still stands.