The disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on sex crimes was overturned by a New York appeals court on Thursday.
The state of New York court of appeals ruled that the judge who oversaw Weinstein’s 2020 conviction was mistaken in allowing other women whose accusations were not a part of the 2020 case to testify.
The original 2020 judgement was overturned by a single vote, the New York Times reported.
Prosecutors in the firestorm case that kicked off the #MeToo movement must determine whether they will retry Weinstein, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2020 for two sex crimes: forcing oral sex on a production assistant in 2006 as well as rape in the third degree of an actor in 2013.
He will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges involving one of the women who testified in New York.
The state court of appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures – an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. The court ordered a new trial. His accusers could again be forced to relive their traumas on the witness stand.
Survivors of Weinstein shared their disappointment and outrage at the latest ruling. The actress Ashley Judd, one of the first people to publicly share allegations against Weinstein, told the New York Times: “That’s really hard for the survivors … We still live in our truth. And we know what happened.”