Harvey Weinstein attorneys file appeal to overturn Los Angeles sexual assault conviction from 2022
By Jean Casarez and Taylor Romine, CNN
(CNN) — Just over a month after his conviction was overturned in New York, attorneys for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein filed an appeal Friday to overturn his Los Angeles conviction from December 2022, when he was found guilty on three sexual assault charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Weinstein was convicted on charges of rape, sexual penetration by a foreign object and forcible oral copulation associated with Jane Doe 1, one of four women who testified in the trial. Weinstein’s attorneys are now seeking a new trial, according to court documents filed in California’s Second District Court of Appeal.
The appeal filing says Weinstein did not receive a fair trial because evidence was excluded regarding the whereabouts of Jane Doe 1 on the date of the alleged assault, prosecutors didn’t disclose a romantic affair Jane Doe 1 was in at the time of the incident, and uncharged alleged criminal assaults by Weinstein were included in evidence.
“Defendant’s trial was a free-for-all where the prosecution offered evidence of a dozen uncharged sex crimes and other ‘offenses’ related to the ‘mistreatment’ of women,” the filing says. “But the jury was misguided about what they could do with the highly prejudicial information. The jury was sent to deliberate with a match and barrel of explosive evidence.”
Dave Ring, an attorney representing Jane Doe 1, said in a statement to CNN, “Weinstein‘s appeal makes the same tired arguments that he previously made multiple times, without success, to the trial court. We are of the strong opinion that the trial court vetted the evidence appropriately and made all the correct decisions in its evidentiary rulings. We are confident that Weinstein’s appeal will be denied and he will spend many years in prison.”
Prosecutors in the Los Angeles trial said Weinstein was a powerful figure in Hollywood who used his influence to lure women into private meetings, assault them and then silence any accusations.
CNN has reached out to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office for comment on the appeal.
The appeal comes after Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction in New York was overturned in April by a New York Appeals court. The court ruled the testimony of “prior bad acts” witnesses should not have been allowed because it “was unnecessary to establish defendant’s intent and served only to establish defendant’s propensity to commit the crimes charged.”
The ruling sent shockwaves through communities of sexual assault survivors, particularly the more than 100 women who have accused Weinstein of assault and harassment.
A new trial was ordered and prosecutors in Manhattan say they plan to retry him. Ahead of retrial, additional accusers have come forward with claims against the Hollywood producer.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” said Emily Tuttle, deputy director of communications and senior advisor for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Weinstein’s attorneys argued in the Los Angeles appeal that prosecutors brought up his New York conviction during jury selection and violated his right to a fair and impartial trial.
“Defendant is entitled to a new trial where his constitutional rights are safeguarded, where he is permitted to present evidence of his innocence, and where his conduct is on trial – not his character,” the filing says.
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