NEW YORK.- The Cut The New York Court of Appeals on Thursday overturned the condemn for violation of Harvey Weinstein in 2020 considering that the judge of the historic process #MeToo harmed the former movie mogul with “scandalously” improper decisions, such as allowing witnesses to testify about accusations that were not part of the case.
“We conclude that the court wrongly allowed statements about alleged prior sexual acts against persons who were not the plaintiffs in the underlying crimes,” the state’s highest court said in a ruling approved by four votes to three. “The remedy for these scandalous errors is a new trial.”
The ruling reopens a painful chapter in the confrontation with powerful figures accused of sexual crimes, an era that began in 2017 with a torrent of complaints against Weinstein. His accusers may be forced to relive their traumas again on the witness stand.
In a stinging dissent, Judge Madeline Singas held that the majority: “whitewashes the facts to fit a he-said/she-said narrative.” She added that the Court of Appeals continued a “disturbing trend toward overturning guilty verdicts by juries in sexual violence cases.”
“The majority’s resolution perpetuates outdated concepts about sexual violence and allows predators not to be held accountable,” Singas wrote.
The case
Weinstein, 72, is serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison following his conviction for criminal sexual acts that included oral sex on a film and TV production assistant in 2006 and the attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.
He will remain in prison because he was sentenced in 2022 in Los Angeles to 16 years in prison for another rape. In that case he was acquitted of charges related to one of the women who testified in New York.
Weinstein’s lawyers argued that Judge James Burke’s rulings in favor of the prosecution transformed the trial into a campaign against the defendant.
The overturning of Weinstein’s conviction is the second setback suffered by the #MeToo movement in the last two years. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal against a Pennsylvania court’s decision to throw out comedian Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.
FUENTE: AP
