Harvey Weinstein has been granted an appeal by New York’s State of Appeals Chief Judge Janet DiFiore which could potentially see his rape conviction overturned over claims he didn’t receive a fair trial in February 2020. As previously reported, the disgraced former film producer, who was considered one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, was convicted of third-degree rape and two charges of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree.
He was sentenced to serve 23 years in a New York prison, but his legal team has been fighting for an appeal ever since, insisting that Weinstein had to sit through an unfair trial. Juror 11, for example, was said to have been working on a novel dealing with “predatory older men,” which was a clear conflict of interest while the New Yorker was also prevented from testifying in his own defense as prosecutors cross-examined him about 28 incidents in a bid to impeach his testimony.
Im very happy that #HarveyWeinstein is granted an Appeal. He never got a fair trial. There was ZERO evidence against him. He was convicted solely over the statements of 2accusers who were admitedly in relationship with him abd went back to him for years!!
— Blero Rina (@celavie2021) August 25, 2022
Through a spokesperson, Weinstein said in a statement, “I am so grateful to my attorneys for working hard and smart on this. Their hard work will help me prove my innocence in the end.” The “unique legal issues in this case” were acknowledged by DiFiore, attorney Arthur Aidala told NBC News, and the team representing Weinstein is optimistic that their client will see his conviction overturned.
“We are hopeful the entire court will find that Mr. Weinstein did not receive a fair trial and reverse his conviction,” Aidala continued. Meanwhile, Doug Wigdor, who represented one of the accusers, believes that while an appeal has been granted, they don’t see the ruling actually being dissolved by any means.
“I represented eight Weinstein clients including two who testified at the trial,” Wigdor stated. “Weinstein is a desperate man but we are confident that New York’s highest court will ultimately reject his appeal… affirming the trial court’s conviction and sentence.”
As to how things are expected to move forward, the court will decide by next year whether to uphold Weinstein’s conviction by the lower court’s ruling, reverse the decision, or modify it, while the last option would be to call for a new trial, though that’s usually known to be the least favorable alternative.
It’s insane but expected that no one on Jeffrey Epstein‘s flight log is in prison he had an whole island trafficking girls to men and everyone’s just sitting around fighting over bullshit and not demanding to know who these men were? Now Harvey Weinstein is up for appeal
— Danielle ✨🌑🌞 (@starsmoonandsun) August 25, 2022
It was just last year when Weinstein was charged with another 11 counts of rape and sexual assault and will be facing trial for that case on October 7.