NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for sexual assault and rape was overturned by New York’s highest court, reopening the landmark case that fueled the #MeToo movement and highlighting the challenges of holding powerful men accountable.
In a bitterly divided 4-3 decision today, the state Court of Appeals said the trial judge made a critical mistake by letting women testify that Weinstein assaulted them, even though their accusations were not part of the charges he faced.
“The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,” Judge Jenny Rivera wrote for the majority.
Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York.
He is not expected to be freed immediately, as he also faces a separate 16-year prison term in California after being convicted there last year for the 2013 rape of an actress at a Los Angeles hotel.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, said in an email.
Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance, brought the New York case.
Bragg’s office is separately in the middle of a criminal hush money trial against former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Weinstein, called the decision a victory for his client and any American charged with a crime, “no matter how popular or unpopular they are.”
Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone.
Ashley Judd, the actress and one of Weinstein’s accusers, at a press conference called the decision “an act of institutional betrayal.”
Judge Madeline Singas dissented, saying the decision “perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence” and makes holding defendants accountable for sexual assault “significantly more difficult.”
She also accused the majority of whitewashing the facts and continuing what she called a “disturbing trend” of overturning jury verdicts in sexual violence cases.
“New York’s women deserve better,” Singas wrote.
The New York conviction had been considered a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.
“Some thought the [Los Angeles] case to be superfluous,” Elizabeth Fegan, a lawyer for some Weinstein accusers, said in an email. “Now we realize how important it was.”
Aidala, Weinstein’s attorney, said he believed the New York decision could influence a California appeals court which is considering whether to overturn that conviction. The California trial similarly featured testimony about his alleged past misconduct as part of the prosecutors’ case.
The New York appeals court also said the trial judge compounded its error by letting Weinstein be cross-examined on a broad range of “loathsome” conduct, including bullying and fits of anger toward associates, that portrayed him in a “highly prejudicial” light.
“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,” said the ruling.
Weinstein was convicted in February 2020 in Manhattan of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
The charges on which he was convicted were first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape. Jurors acquitted him on other charges.
Weinstein’s trial judge, James Burke, was not reappointed to the bench after his term expired at the end of 2022.
Some states, including New York, responded to the #MeToo movement by passing laws that let women bring civil lawsuits seeking damages for sexual misconduct that occurred many years earlier even if statutes of limitations had already passed.
Weinstein co-founded the Miramax film studio, whose hit movies included “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.” His own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.
He joins former comedian Bill Cosby among those who have had sexual assault convictions overturned.
Cosby’s 2018 conviction was overturned three years later by Pennsylvania’s highest court. The majority said a 2005 agreement by prosecutors not to charge Cosby with drugging and assaulting a woman meant he should not have been charged a decade later.
Iran’s judiciary confirms rapper Toomaj Salehi death sentence
DUBAI, (Reuters) – Iran’s judiciary confirmed the death sentence of well-known Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi but added that he is entitled to a sentence reduction, state media reported today.
Salehi’s lawyer Amir Raisian told Sharq newspaper on Wednesday that an Iranian Revolutionary Court had sentenced his client to death for charges linked to Iran’s 2022-2023 unrest.
Salehi was arrested in October 2022 after making public statements in support of the nationwide protests, sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman arrested over wearing an “improper” hijab.
On Thursday the judiciary’s media department confirmed Salehi’s death sentence based on charges of “corruption on earth”, adding that the verdict entitled the defendant to a sentence reduction due to “his expression of remorse and cooperation with authorities”.
Salehi has 20 days to appeal his sentence with the Supreme Court. If the sentence is upheld, the judiciary’s amnesty commission would review his case to potentially commute his sentence, the judiciary media’s department added.
In 2023, Iran’s Supreme Court had rejected Salehi’s charges of “corruption on earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws. The ruling has not been enforced, however, in what Salehi’s lawyer called “an unprecedented move” by the judiciary.
The hashtag #FreeToomaj has been trending on social media platforms such as X, with users calling for Salehi’s immediate release.
Lula’s South American summit plan unlikely in tense region, diplomats say
BRASILIA/MONTEVIDEO, (Reuters) – A diplomatic crisis in Ecuador and uncertainty over Venezuela’s political future have divided South American nations and killed enthusiasm for a summit that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is trying to convene, diplomats in the region say.
Seeking to become a regional leader again, Lula gathered 11 presidents in Brazil’s capital last May, but the forum called the Brasilia Consensus was struck by disagreement over the presence of Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric, a fellow leftist from a younger generation, criticized Lula for inviting Maduro to a meeting of democratic leaders, as did Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou.
With concerns about Venezuelan elections in July and fallout from Ecuador’s invasion of the Mexican embassy to seize an opposition politician, the region is too unsettled for a fresh attempt at dialogue, diplomats in Brazil and Uruguay said.
Lula has not given up plans for a summit and said on Tuesday he hopes Boric will invite other presidents to discuss South American integration when he makes a state visit to Chile on May 17-18.
“We need to discuss how to act as a bloc,” he told reporters. “We will respect differences, but work together to achieve economic growth. It’s difficult, but we have to try.”
In Santiago, Boric said a meeting with other presidents was not part of plans for Lula’s visit.
“I suspect there is too much bad blood among South American leaders right now for a productive summit, or maybe any summit at all,” said Latin America political analyst Brian Winter, Vice President of Policy at the Council of the Americas.
The Ecuadorean raid of the Mexican embassy on April 5 pushed relations between the two countries over the edge, he said. Diplomatic condemnations piled on from around the region.
“You also hear resentment in some capitals at Brazil for taking for granted its status as the big regional superpower.” Winter added.
The main reason for the lack of enthusiasm for a South American summit today is the upcoming vote in Venezuela, said most diplomats consulted by Reuters, who requested anonymity.
“No one wants to form part of a new group when there is such uncertainty over whether some countries will recognize Maduro, others won’t recognize him or who will dismiss the elections outright,” a senior South American diplomat said.
“This is going to be a giant problem again, dividing regional opinion so leaders rightly don’t want to make statements at some meeting in May,” the source added.
Last year’s meeting in Brasilia was a “total failure” because Chile and Uruguay quickly distanced themselves from Lula’s views on Venezuela, according to the diplomat.
A meeting of presidents in Chile was “highly unlikely” not least because Boric has distanced himself from Lula’s views on issues such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran, said a foreign policy advisor to the Uruguayan government.
That source sees little chance of a full reboot in the short term of the Unasur bloc of South American countries started in 2008 by Lula and Venezuelan populist leader Hugo Chavez.
But Lula will not give up, he said: “Lula is going to continue with Unasur.”
