New York’s highest court has overturned Harvey Weinstein’s conviction for sex crimes and rape, and ordered a new trial for the once-powerful film mogul whose reported abuse of women fuelled the #MeToo movement.
Weinstein was first convicted in New York in February 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He had appealed against the verdict, citing, among other issues, damning testimony of alleged sexual assault given by women who were not part of the case that may have unlawfully swayed the jury.
The New York Court of Appeals in a 4-3 decision on Thursday agreed with Weinstein that the prosecution should not have been allowed to use such allegations to establish a “propensity for criminality”.