Producer Harvey Weinstein’s criminal conviction has been overturned. The process will have to be redone
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction was overturned Thursday in New York, making room for a new trial. Accusations of his sexual abuse by many actresses sparked the #MeToo movement.
The state Court of Appeals found that the judge in the historic trial convicted the former movie mogul of improper decisions, including the decision to have the women testify about charges that were not part of the case.
According to the court of appeals, the trial court erred in admitting testimony of alleged prior uncharged sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes, because such testimony served no substantive purpose other than to influence the jury,” the court said in a 4-3 decision, therefore by majority. “The court compounded the error when it allowed women to testify about charges that were not part of the case.”
“The court compounded the error when it determined that the defendant, who had no criminal record, could be cross-examined on these charges, as well as on numerous allegations of misconduct that cast the defendant in a highly prejudicial,” he said.
Judge Jenny Rivera called the errors "serious" and said the remedy is a new trial. Weinstein's accusers may be called to testify again.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said "we will do everything we can to review this case and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault."
Douglas H. Wigdor, an attorney who represented eight Weinstein accusers, criticized the decision and said “it is a big step backwards in holding people accountable for acts of sexual violence.”
“Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts when it helps juries understand questions regarding the defendant's intent, modus operandi, or scheme,” he said in a statement.
Wigdor said overturning the conviction is “tragic as it will require the victims to endure another trial.”
So now we start from scratch.
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The article Producer Harvey Weinstein's criminal conviction has been overturned. The process will have to be redone comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-condanna-penale-del-produttore-harvey-weinstein-e-stata-annullata-il-processo-dovra-essere-rifatto/ on Thu, 25 Apr 2024 15:58:50 +0000.