Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges was overturned and a retrial was ordered by New York’s top court on Thursday morning, stunning just about everyone. Now the question is: what happens next?
On Thursday morning, it was revealed that the New York State Court of Appeals found that the judge who handled Weinstein’s trial “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts.”
In other words, the Appeals Court decided that Weinstein was not given a fair trial in New York because past allegations and testimonies were allowed, but they did not pertain to the specific crimes he was accused of in this exact case. As a result, the conviction was rendered unlawful.
The decision was made by a close margin though, just 4-3. In a scathing dissent letter, one New York appeals judge argued that the court failed to understand the complexity and nuance of the case and that “New York’s women deserve better.”
So, will the former Hollywood mogul stay in jail after the reversal? The short answer, at least for now, is yes.
Last year, Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison for similar sexual assault charges in California. He originally faced 11 counts of rape and sexual battery in that case, stemming from alleged acts between 2004 and 2013, but four of those counts were eventually dropped. In the end, he was found guilty on three of seven total charges.
Because that case was brought and tried in Los Angeles, his 16-year sentence must be served separately from his New York sentence. In terms of the latter, Weinstein already served four years out of what was supposed to be a 23-year sentence.
So, regardless of what comes from the New York retrial, Weinstein is still facing that 16-year sentence from Los Angeles (though he has been trying to appeal that conviction as well). Weinstein is currently being held at Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York, but will eventually be moved to a prison in California. It’s unclear how soon that will happen, or when his New York retrial may take place.
“We’re studying the appeal and we don’t know the full ramifications of it yet,” Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told TheWrap. “Harvey doesn’t know about the ruling yet – we can’t call him in jail, he can only call us. We have emailed him, his lawyer has emailed him, but he hasn’t yet responded. His team is cautiously excited.”
The decision to overturn the conviction drew outrage online as well, with many people mourning the fact that some of Weinstein’s victims may now need to testify again in a retrial.
“When victims say the ‘justice system’ re-traumatises them, this is what they mean,” one person wrote.
“Harvey Weinstein – the last gasp of a narcissistic void determined to have the last word,” another posted. “His victims will be forced to go through it all again and for what? He’s a rapist. He is unrepentant. I hope he rots.”
Emily Smith contributed to this report.
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