Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction and sentence upheld
NEW YORK » A New York appeals court upheld Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction and 23-year prison sentence Thursday, rejecting the movie mogul’s claims that the judge at his landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced him by allowing women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the criminal case.
The ruling by a fivejudge panel in the state’s intermediate appeals court affirmed one of the highest-profile verdicts to date in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures, an era that began with a
flood of allegations against Weinstein.
Weinstein’s publicist, Juda Engelmayer, said he is reviewing his options and will seek to appeal the decision to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
“We are disappointed, but not surprised,” Engelmayer said.
Weinstein, 70, was convicted in New York in February 2020 of a criminal sex act forced on a TV and film production assistant in 2006, and raping an aspiring actress in 2013.
He was acquitted of rape and predatory sexual assault stemming from actor Annabella Sciorra’s allegations about an encounter in the mid-1990s. The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assualt unless they consent to be named;
Sciorra has spoken publicly about her allegations.
Weinstein is jailed in California, where he was extradited last year, and is awaiting trial on charges he assaulted five women in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013.
In a 45-page ruling, the appellate court said trial Judge James Burke properly exercised his discretion in allowing prosecutors to bolster their case with testimony from three women who accused Weinstein of violated them but whose claims did not lead to charges in the New York case.
The judges said that although the volume of material, pertaining to 28 alleged acts over 30 years, was “unquestionably large, and, at first blush, perhaps appears to be troublingly so,” Burke properly exercised his discretion in weighing its relevance to the case.
The judges had been far more critical during oral arguments in December, questioning a number of Burke’s rulings, including one that cleared the way for prosecutors to confront Weinstein with evidence about other, unrelated misbehavior if he had testified.
The judges, echoing concerns from Weinstein’s lawyers, said at the time that the ruling had effectively muted his defense.