Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appeared in New York court on Wednesday, May 1, for the first time since the resounding annulment of one of his convictions for rape and sexual assault, facing prosecutors determined to obtain a new guilty verdict. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said it was committed to retrying Weinstein.
Mr. Weinstein, accused of rape and sexual assault by more than a hundred women and whose behavior had sparked the #metoo movement, appeared diminished, pushed on a wheelchair in the courtroom of the Manhattan court . Still incarcerated, because he was also sentenced in 2023 to sixteen years in prison in Los Angeles for rape and sexual assault, this is the first time that he returns to justice after the cancellation, last Thursday, of his sentenced to twenty-three years in prison in New York in 2020.
“We believe in this issue, which is why Jessica Mann [l’une des accusatrices] is here today »immediately launched Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg. “We have every reason to believe that the accused will be found guilty again” during a second trial, she added.
A trial erected into a symbol
The annulment of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction in New York was seen as an affront and a step backwards for the #metoo movement against violence against women. The revelations about Harvey Weinstein in 2017 caused a global shockwave and his trial was made a symbol.
The former producer was sentenced to twenty-three years in prison for the sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi, in 2006, and the rape of actress Jessica Mann, in 2013, after a trial where several other women accusing Harvey Weinstein of similar acts, but who could not be criminally prosecuted, had testified. New York Court of Appeals Says Testimony From Other Alleged Victims Was Admitted “wrongly” and had “paints a highly damaging image” of the accused. According to the court, “The solution to these shocking errors is a new trial”.
The appeals court was divided on the issue, with four judges ruling in favor of the annulment and three against, after a lively debate. “The court continues to thwart the consistent victories that survivors of sexual violence have fought for”, regretted Madeline Singas, one of the judges having ruled against the annulment. According to her, women “who carry the trauma of sexual violence” have been “forgotten”. Mimi Haley announced Friday that she plans to testify again if a second trial takes place in New York.