Share with:

Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction upheld by appeals court

MICHAEL R. SISAK

Thu, June 2, 2022, 8:20 AM·5 min read

In this article:

Harvey WeinsteinAmerican film producer
Annabella SciorraAmerican actress
Gloria AllredLawyer

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court on Thursday upheld Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction and 23-year prison sentence, rejecting the former movie mogul’s claim that the judge at his landmark #MeToo trial unfairly allowed women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

The ruling by a five-judge 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.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who took office in January while Weinstein’s appeal was pending, said in a statement that prosecutors were “gratified by today’s decision, which upholds a monumental conviction that changed the way prosecutors and courts approach complex prosecutions of sexual predators.”

Weinstein, 70, was convicted in New York in February 2020 of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant, Mimi Haley, in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in 2013. He was acquitted of first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault stemming from actor Annabella Sciorra’s allegations of a mid-1990s rape.

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named; Sciorra has spoken publicly about her allegations, and Haley has agreed to be named.

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.

Lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents Haley, Sciorra and another witness, said that she was “thrilled” Weinstein’s conviction was upheld and that her clients’ “many sacrifices for the cause of justice” were not in vain.Story continues

https://s.yimg.com/rq/darla/4-10-1/html/r-sf.html