The New York Court of Appeals overturned disgraced film executive Harvey Weinstein‘s 2020 conviction in the Empire State on sexual assault charges.
The court ruled 4-3 that the judge had made “egregious errors” with how the trial was conducted, specifically testimony that was allowed in the trial. The majority ruled the solution was for a new trial to be held on the charges levied against Weinstein.
“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes because that testimony served no material non-propensity purpose,” the majority opinion said.
“The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,” the decision continued.
The court pointed to the standard set in the 1974 opinion in People v. Sandoval, which discusses what evidence may be allowed before a jury before a defendant makes a decision on whether to testify.
The panel pointed to the allowance of prosecutors to ask Weinstein about allegations of verbal abuse of employees, among other actions, unrelated to the alleged crimes. During the case, the judge also allowed women not part of the case to testify about their allegations against Weinstein.
“Similarly, under Sandoval, cross-examination of the defendant with allegations concerning prior convictions or proof of prior ‘specific criminal, vicious or immoral acts’ is impermissible except to the extent it bears on the defendant’s credibility,” the opinion said.
“Thus, 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 lodged against them,” it continued.
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Weinstein was sentenced to a 23-year prison sentence for his New York conviction. He was found guilty in a separate case in California for sexual assault charges and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The case against the disgraced movie mogul was one of the most high-profile of the #MeToo movement.