In a dramatic reversal of the nation’s landmark #MeToo trial, a New York appeals court on Thursday overturned the sex assault conviction of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, citing errors by the trial judge.
The state appeals court found, in a 4-3 decision, that the judge who presided over Weinstein’s 2017 trial prejudiced the disgraced Hollywood movie mogul’s case by allowing four women who said Weinstein had assaulted them to serve as witnesses, even though their allegations were not part of the case.
The trial judge also made a mistake, the court ruled, in permitting prosecutors to question Weinstein about uncharged and decades-old allegations if he decided to testify.
“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,” Judge Jenny Rivera wrote for the majority.
The majority female panel of judges ordered a new trial, arguing that the “synergistic effect of these errors was not harmless.”
“The only evidence against defendant was the complainants’ testimony, and the result of the court’s rulings, on the one hand, was to bolster their credibility and diminish defendant’s character before the jury,” the court added.
The majority decision received push-back from the other judges.
“This Court has continued a disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence,” Judge Madeline Singas wrote in a dissenting opinion.
Singas argued that the court had whitewashed the facts to conform to a he-said/she-said narrative, ignored evidence of Weinstein’s manipulation and premeditation, and failed to recognize that the jury was entitled to consider the defendant’s previous assaults.
Weinstein was also convicted of rape in California, so the New York ruling will have no practical effect on his imprisonment.
Emily Tuttle, deputy director of communications and senior advisor for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, said attorneys were committed to retrying Weinstein.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” she said.
Attorneys representing some of the women who came forward with allegations against Weinstein moved swiftly to condemn the ruling.
“Today’s decision is a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence,” said Douglas H. Wigdor, an attorney who has represented eight women who made allegations against Weinstein, including two of the witnesses at the New York criminal trial.
“Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts where they assist juries in understanding issues concerning the intent, modus operandi or scheme of the defendant,” Wigdor told The Times. “The jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony and overturning the verdict is tragic in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial.”
Courts in California have long allowed the use of witnesses who offer allegations of prior bad acts, according to former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.
“Prior bad acts evidence can be controversial, and the slim majority of appellate judges [in this case] ruled that the testimony of the other victims was prejudicial because their conduct was not charged,” Rahmani said.
“Prosecutors like prior bad acts evidence, especially in sexual assault cases,” Rahmani added. “Jurors may not believe the testimony of one victim, but it’s hard for them to reject the testimony of multiple victims who tell the same story.”
The Miramax co-founder has been serving a 23-year sentence since he was convicted in 2020 of rape and a felony sex crime after allegedly assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haley and once-aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
Weinstein, who has denied all wrongdoing, appealed in 2021, citing a series of issues, including errors at trial.
In the 160-page appeal, Weinstein’s legal team once again attacked the credibility of the six women who testified at his 2020 trial in lower Manhattan. While most of the allegations were at least corroborated by the testimony of others whom the women told of the alleged assaults around the time they took place, Weinstein’s legal team questioned why they stayed in contact with the mogul — or in some cases, continued having sex with him — after the alleged crimes.
Harvey Weinstein, alongside his brother Bob, created a show business empire through their entertainment company Miramax. They revolutionized the movie industry with their ability to market independent films such as “sex, lies and videotape,” “Pulp Fiction” and Oscar-winning “Shakespeare in Love” into box office hits.
Along the way, there were whispers throughout the entertainment industry that Harvey Weinstein was a sexual predator. The allegations finally became public in October 2017, when investigations by the New York Times and The New Yorker revealed accounts of sexual abuse from women who dealt with Weinstein over the years.
The mogul denied the claims. But the accusations continued to mount, with dozens of more women coming forward. The stories involving a perpetrator with Weinstein’s larger-than-life Hollywood profile opened the door to a national conversation on sexual harassment and abuse of women in the workplace that became known as the #MeToo movement.
Some attorneys for women argue that the New York appellate ruling demonstrates that, even with the attention that the #MeToo movement generated, there are still obstacles for victims seeking justice.
“The ruling shows how far we still have to go to protect women and punish their rapists and abusers,” said Nancy Erica Smith, the employment attorney who handled former anchor Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit against Fox News. “How could the fact that the defendant engaged in the same modus operandi with numerous women, only a few of which were allowed to testify and who were all subjected to vigorous cross examination, not be relevant to the jury?” Smith added. “I’m sure many victims of sexual violence are devastated today.”
