The Harvey Weinstein scandal sparked the #MeToo movement. Now, a New York judge has granted Harvey Weinstein the right to appeal his sex crimes convictions more than two years after a jury found him guilty of first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape. A retiring appeals court justice, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, has granted Weinstein’s request for an appeal, which means that his 2020 rape conviction could be vacated or modified.
The New York District Attorney’s Office charged Harvey Weinstein with “rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse, and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women” in 2018 after the sexual assault and rape allegations went public in the media. Dating back to the Paz de la Huerta rape allegations emerging in the press, Weinstein has maintained his innocence and denied all wrongdoing—a stance that he maintains to this day, and maintained throughout his 2020 trial. However, a jury wasn’t convinced by the ex-media mogul’s victim defense, convicting him of one count of criminal sexual assault in the first degree and one count of rape in the third degree and sentencing him to 23 years in prison.
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Since Weinstein’s 2020 conviction, he has continued to maintain that he was the victim, seeking to appeal his 23-year prison sentence. And in April 2021, he finally filed to appeal his conviction. Although the case was rejected by a lower court in June, on August 24, 2022, the New York State Court of Appeals granted Weinstein an appeal hearing. Chief Judge DiFiore has agreed to hear arguments from both Weinstein’s defense team and the DA on whether the ex-Hollywood producer deserves a new trial.
Harvey Weinstein Maintains His Innocence
Weinstein’s attorney Arthur Aidala told NBC News, “We are grateful that Chief Judge DiFiore acknowledged the unique legal issues in this case, and we are hopeful the entire court will find that Mr. Weinstein did not receive a fair trial and reverse his conviction.”
Mr. Aidala’s client also commented on the appeal. In a statement made through a spokesperson, Weinstein maintained that he is innocent of the crimes he was convicted of in 2020. In a statement to NBC News, Weinstein said he is “innocent of these charges, and 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. I look forward to this opportunity to be heard by The New York Court of Appeals.”
