What will happen to Harvey Weinstein’s California rape conviction after New York verdict was overturned?
Attorneys for Weinstein celebrated the decision as a ‘great day for America’
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A New York appeals court on Thursday overturned disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for the rape and assault of two women, citing “egregious errors” in the original proceedings.
These errors included, according to the judges in the majority, allowing several women to testify about alleged incidents outside the charges in the case, and allowing prosecutors the option to ask Weinstein himself about various uncharged allegations.
Weinstein’s attorneys celebrated the decision as a “great day for America,” while #MeToo activists like actor Ashley Judd, one of many Hollywood figures to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, called the decision an act of “institutional betrayal.”
What happens next for Weinstein and his various prison sentences?
The former film producer, who reportedly learned of Thursday’s ruling when a fellow inmate at Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York, handed him a copy of an article about the decision, won’t be released from detention just yet.
Weinstein faces a separate 16-year sentence in California, set to be served following his 23-year New York penalty, after being convicted in 2022 of rape, forcible oral sex and sexual penetration of an unnamed Italian actress in 2013.
Rather than be immediately extradited to California to face that sentence, Weinstein will likely be moved to a New York City-based facility while prosecutors decide whether to retry his case, his spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told The Independent on Thursday.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said after the appeals court ruling that it will aim to retry Weinstein.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokesperson for Mr Bragg’s office told The Independent.
Weinstein’s attorneys plan to appeal his California conviction next month, arguing the case suffered from similar issues.
As in the New York case, some witnesses who testified had accused Weinstein of sex crimes that weren’t listed in the charges.
His legal team argue that the New York conviction, now overturned, influenced the California prosecution.
“A jury was told in California that he was convicted in another state for rape ... turns out he shouldn´t have been convicted and it wasn´t a fair conviction. ... It interfered with his presumption of innocence in a significant way in California,” attorney Jennifer Bonjean told The Associated Press.
During a Thursday press conference, Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Weinstein, called the ruling in New York a “great day for America”, and suggested that the evidence for appeal was even stronger in California.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office said that it was saddened by the New York court’s decision, but that it was confident the California conviction would stand.