NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Disgraced Hollywood manufacturer Harvey Weinstein has had his 2020 rape conviction overturned in New York, shocking his accusers and outraged activists who oppose sexual abuse.
But what does this mean for Weinstein and his time limits?
On Thursday, April 25, the Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein’s 23-year sentence for rape.
He was first placed on bans in March 2020 after being convicted of third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act.
However, today we decided that the trial ruling harmed the former movie mogul by making out-of-line decisions, and Weinstein’s legal team said Judge James Burke strongly favored the charge.
They also claimed that their own were biased by cultural tension to condemn Weinstein, given that the avalanche of accusations against him had been the catalyst for the #MeToo movement.
Following the ruling, Weinstein’s legal team said he was “cautiously excited” about the future as he still had more cases pending.
Weinstein, 72, was already serving a life sentence when he flew to Los Angeles to face his second trial on rape and sexual assault charges.
This second conviction is now the only thing keeping him in prison after his previous conviction for criminal sex acts was overturned by a vote of four to three.
Prominent criminal lawyer Richard Cannon, spouse of Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, explained to Metro. co. uk what it means to overturn Weinstein’s conviction.
“Weinstein will be released as a result of this settlement as he is also serving a 16-year sentence imposed by a California court,” Cannon explained.
As for whether Weinstein will seek a new trial, Cannon noted that while it’s not certain, teams like the Silence Breakers will most likely push for it.
“The decision to request a new trial will be up to the Manhattan district attorney, and the victim teams will most likely work hard to do so. “
Cannon added that winning an appeal would likely give Weinstein ammunition to ask for his second conviction to be overturned.
“Now that he won that appeal, it is conceivable that he will seek to appeal California’s 2023 conviction based on the negative effect New York’s 2020 conviction has had on that proceeding. “
After the ruling, Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Deadline: “We are cautiously excited.
“He still has a long way to go because of the Los Angeles case.
“Lately we’re the offshoots of the appeal. “
At a news conference, Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, also called the appeals court’s ruling “a day for America. “
“It may seem exaggerated, but it’s not. Today’s court ruling is a wonderful day for the United States because it instills religion into the lifestyles of a judicial system,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told the PA news agency: “We will do everything in our power to retry this case and be steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault. “
Meanwhile, Weinstein’s accusers said the resolution was “deeply unfair. “
The Silence Breakers, who were named Time’s Person of the Year in 2017, said in a statement: “Today’s news is only disheartening, but it is deeply unfair.
“But this resolution does not diminish the validity of our reports or our truth; It’s just a setback.
“The convict continues to serve his sentence in a California prison. When survivors around the world broke their silence in 2017, the world changed.
“We will continue to advocate and advocate for this change. We will continue to fight for justice for survivors around the world.
The organization is made up of social activists and public figures (men and women) who have spoken out against sexual abuse, including Ashley Judd, Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu, Taylor Swift, and Isabel Pascual, among many others.
Actress Judd specifically described Weinstein’s ruling as “unfair to survivors,” as she was one of the first to make allegations against him.
The Double Jeopardy star wrote on Instagram, “This is unfair to the survivors. We are in our truth. We know what happened.
Judd had claimed in the past that he was thinking of attending a hotel breakfast in 1997, during the filming of the mystery film Kiss The Girls, when he began pressuring her to give him and receive massages and watch him shower.
In an effort to get out of the bathroom, she claims to have made a deal with him that she would tell him his advances when he won an Oscar for one of his films.
At a news conference in New York on Thursday, Judd said, “Today is an act of institutional betrayal.
“And our institutions are betraying survivors of male sexual violence, and we want to work inside and outside the systems to start having what’s called ‘institutional courage. ‘
Activist Tarana Burke, who started the #MeToo movement, also spoke on the occasion, saying, “A lot of people, a lot of survivors and those who love and survivors probably thought that this initial verdict meant that there was going to be a change, that it made a change, a difference in the way that this formula of justice was going to evolve and operate.
“And I had the feeling, and a lot of us, that we were on the right track to see another America. And at the time, I feel like we were wrong.
He added: “What does this bring to the MeToo movement?
“I need you to hear that. This is not a major blow to the movement. It’s a wake-up call. And we are in a position to respond to this call.
The allegations against Weinstein, the once-powerful and feared Oscar-winning studio head for films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare In Love,” marked the start of a global movement seven years ago, where women around the world shared their own reports of sexual assault. .
In 2019, the U. S. District Court in Los Angeles dismissed a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Judd against Weinstein, in which she claimed he had defamed her, damaging her career.
Mira Sorvino, who in the past had made allegations against Weinstein and won an Oscar for The Mighty Aphrodite, tweeted that she was “disgusted” by the justice formula and “horrified. “
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