A new process with a 73-year-old former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein began on Tuesday in New York. It concerns accusations of several women of sexual crimes initiated by the establishment of the ME Too movement. The New York Court of Appeal was set aside the original 2020 judgment last year for procedural errors, Informs TASR based on AFP and DPA reports.
In March 2020, the jury in New York Weinstein condemned to 23 years in prison for sexual assault and rape. In 2006, he allegedly forced production assistant Miriam Haley to oral sex and raped actress Jessica Mann in 2013. However, the Court of Appeal in New York annulled this decision for procedural errors in April 2024 and ordered the renewal of the proceedings. He justified this in particular by the fact that as evidence was admitted by testimonies that were not part of the indictment.
The court will again deal with the accusations of Haley and Mann, to whom the indictment has also added a third case of sexual harassment. However, some previous testimonies of witnesses, including the testimony of women who were not officially part of the indictment, will not be taken into account in the new process. Also, they will not again be discussed by liberating verdicts on the most serious allegations such as a “predatory attack” for which Weinstein was threatened with life.
If Weinstein is also deprived of accusations in a repeated process, it would not be free. At present, he is serving a 16-year imprisonment for a sexual assault for which he was sentenced in a separate case in February 2023 in Los Angeles.
Once an influential Weinstein, many actresses have been considered a “monster” since the first information began to appear in the autumn of 2017 that he had long committed sexual abuse. He was also accused by actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Uma Thurman. However, Weinstein rejects all allegations and claims that his relations with women were consensual.
Weinstein considers a new process to be a way to purify its name. However, his health is not good – he suffers from high blood pressure, cardiac problems, diabetes and has recently been confirmed by leukemia. He was taken from prison several times to the hospital.
