Watch as Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer speaks after conviction overturned
Watch as Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, spoke after his client’s conviction was overturned by the New York Supreme Court.
Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for sexual assault and rape was overturned on Thursday 25 April, reopening the landmark case that fueled the #MeToo movement.
In a bitterly divided 4-3 decision, the state Court of Appeals said the trial judge made a critical mistake by letting women testify that Weinstein assaulted them, even though their accusations were not part of the charges he faced.
“The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,” Judge Jenny Rivera wrote for the majority.
Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York.
He is not expected to be freed immediately, as he also faces a separate 16-year prison term in California after being convicted there last year for the 2013 rape of an actress at a Los Angeles hotel.