Index – Foreign – Harvey Weinstein’s sentence was overturned, which started the metoo movement

A New York state appeals court says a trial judge made a critical error when he allowed prosecutors to introduce testimony from women who said they were abused by Harvey Weinstein. The trial judge compounded the error by allowing Harvey Weinstein to be cross-examined in a way that cast him in an “extremely prejudicial light,” the court added. Judge Jenny Rivera recommended starting a new procedure for all of this, Reuters wrote.

Dissenting Judge Madeline Singas said the result “perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape prosecution.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has to decide whether to continue the proceedings, whose spokesman promised that they would do everything possible to retry the case, “strongly adhering to their commitment to survivors of sexual violence.”

Reuters notes that even if the case is not ultimately retried, Weinstein would still face a 16-year prison sentence in California after he was convicted there last year of raping an actress in Los Angeles in 2013.

Harvey Weinstein, 72, is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence, which was imposed on him in February 2020, for sexually assaulting a former production assistant in 2006 and raping an actress in 2013. Weinstein co-founded the Miramax film studio, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.

Since then, the former star producer has been accused of sexual harassment by more and more women – most recently by British actress Julia Ormond in 2023.

There is help

This article is about sexual abuse. Please also read our article about this!

If you or someone you know is experiencing violence in a relationship, or if you believe that someone has been a victim of human trafficking, call the National Crisis Management and Information Telephone Service toll-free from within the country at 06 (80) 20-55-20.

The NANE Association’s helpline for abused women and children can be called free of charge on 06 (80) 505-101 every weekday, except Wednesdays, between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.