OAN’s James Meyers
9:18 AM – Thursday, April 25, 2024
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape conviction was overturned Thursday by New York’s highest court, saying that Weinstein should face a new trial.
Advertisement
The state Court of Appeals found that the judge in the highly regarded #MeToo trial was biased against the former film mogul with improper rulings. This includes a 4-3 decision that found that a Manhattan Judge “erroneously” allowed testimony from three women whose allegations 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 because that testimony served no material non-propensity purpose,” the court’s 4-3 decision said.
The judge, James Burke, also “compounded that error” by ruling that if Weinstein did choose to testify, he could be grilled on the witness stand “about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light.”
“The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,” the appeals court said.
Meanwhile, the 72-year-old has been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison following his conviction on charges of criminal sex act for forcibly performing oral sex on former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haleuyi in 2006 and raping hairstylist Jessica Mann in 2013.
Despite Thursday’s ruling, Weinstein will remain in prison because he was separately sentenced in February 2023 to 16 years in prison in a Los Angeles criminal case for raping Mann in 2013. The model testified that he threw himself onto her after appearing uninvited outside her hotel room during an Italian film festival there in 2013.
However, the former Hollywood producer has insisted that any sexual activity he has been accused of was consensual.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Be the first to comment