“ The Justice system’s key principles are just law, equality, and independence of any influences and enshrine on the country’s law, but today’s decision in favor of Weinstein’s will forever leave a dark hole in the judiciary system dignity and trust”
The New York Appeal Court on Thursday overturned the judgment of 2020 sexual offense charges against Harvey Weinstein. The prosecutor said the case will again reopen in the firestorm case. The Hollywood Mogul Harvey Weinstein is charged with multiple sexual misconduct and rape charges against many Hollywood female fraternities.
There are multiple women, who came forward and opened up about their encounter with the sexual predator. It fires up the “Mee Too” movement rapidly all over the globe.
The Thursday ruling by the New York Appeal Court overturned the 2020 ruling against Harvey Weinstein generated so much angst among the victims, judges, and support groups.
What New York Court of Appeal Stated in Their Judgement of Harvey Weinstein Charges
New York Court of Appeal on Thursday said in its 4-3 ruling that the judge who convicted Harvey of the sexual and rape crime is completely egregious and was mistaken in allowing the testimonies of women, are not allowed to testify in the 2020 case.
The Judge said “[Weinstein] was convicted by a jury for various sexual crimes against three named complainants and, on appeal, claims that he was judged, not on the conduct for which he was indicted, but on irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior bad acts,”
“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes … the remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial,”
In a New York court, Harvey Weinstein 2020 was convicted of two crimes: First forcing oral sex on a production assistant in 2006, and raping Jessica Mann an aspiring actress in 2013. For this, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Although he was acquitted he still remained imprisoned for 16 years in Los Angeles for raping an Italian model in a Beverly Hills Hotel in 2013.
Many celebs and Judges Showed Their Anger Against the Ruling
Many celebrities and judges showed their anguish in with the decision of the New York Court of Appeal. One of the first, who came forward is the Kiss the Girl actress Ashley Judd, she expressed her anger and was highly disturbed by the overturning of the 2020 verdict.
She said on BBC “ “Oftentimes survivors say that the betrayal and the moral injury we suffer within the system is worse than the sexual body invasion we experienced in the first place. We know what happened and the truth is consistent.”
Gloria Allred, a lawyer who represented Mimi Haley said that she is ready to testify against Harvey, she further added that “ even though the process of testifying was grueling and retraumatizing for Mimi”.
“I commend Mimi on her courage and willingness to keep standing up for the truth,” she said, adding that “although victims have lost this battle they have not lost the war. We will continue to fight for justice”.
The Silence Breaker group said that it’s “Profoundly unjust”.
Judge Madeline Singas said that the “New York Court of Appeal supports a trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence. The majority’s determination perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability.”
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala commended the decision and said ““not just a victory for Mr Weinstein, but for every criminal defendant in the state of New York, and we compliment the court of appeals for upholding the most basic principles that a criminal defendant should have in a trial.”
The decision affected many victims who needed a fair trial for themselves, even though it actually supported the notion that US law tried to whitewash the image of affluent sex offenders.
For the first time in 2017, the victims came forward and gave detail about the sexual misconduct and rape against Harvey.
Many remarkable celebrities have given a statement against Harvey Weinstein – Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, Melissa Thompson, Rose Mcgowan, Salma Hayek, Lea Seydoux, Annabella Sciorra, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong, Connie Nielsen, Mia Kirshner, Minka Kelly and Kathrine Kendall and many more other.