Major reversal in landmark #MeToo decision.
New York’s highest court overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction on Thursday, April 25. According to the 4-3 ruling, the judge in the 2020 trial prejudiced the former movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including by allowing women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
“Under our system of justice, the accused has a right to be held to account only for the crime charged and, thus, allegations of prior bad acts may not be admitted against them for the sole purpose of establishing their propensity for criminality,” the reversal decision read. “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. The…
