New
York’s
highest
court
on
Thursday
overturned
Harvey
Weinstein’s
2020
rape
conviction,
finding
the
judge
at
the
landmark
#MeToo
trial
prejudiced
the
ex-movie
mogul
with
improper
rulings,
including
a
decision
to
let
women
testify
about
allegations
that
weren’t
part
of
the
case.
The
state
Court
of
Appeals
ruling
reopens
a
painful
chapter
in
America’s
reckoning
with
sexual
misconduct
by
powerful
figures
—
an
era
that
began
in
2017
with
a
flood
of
allegations
against
Weinstein.
The
court
ordered
a
new
trial.
His
accusers
could
again
be
forced
to
relive
their
traumas
on
the
witness
stand.
Weinstein,
72,
has
been
serving
a
23-year
sentence
in
a
New
York
prison
following
his
conviction
on
charges
of
criminal
sex
act
for
forcibly
performing
oral
sex
on
a
TV
and
film
production
assistant
in
2006
and
rape
in
the
third
degree
for
an
attack
on
an
aspiring
actress
in
2013.
He
will
remain
imprisoned
because
he
was
convicted
in
Los
Angeles
in
2022
of
another
rape
and
sentenced
to
16
years
in
prison.
Weinstein
was
acquitted
in
Los
Angeles
on
charges
involving
one
of
the
women
who
testified
in
New
York.
Weinstein’s
lawyers
argued
Judge
James
Burke’s
rulings
in
favor
of
the
prosecution
turned
the
trial
into
“1-800-GET-HARVEY.”
The
reversal
of
Weinstein’s
conviction
is
the
second
major
#MeToo
setback
in
the
last
two
years,
after
the
U.S.
Supreme
Court
refused
to
hear
an
appeal
of
a
Pennsylvania
court
decision
to
throw
out
Bill
Cosby’s
sexual
assault
conviction.
Weinstein’s
conviction
stood
for
more
than
four
years,
heralded
by
activists
and
advocates
as
a
milestone
achievement,
but
dissected
just
as
quickly
by
his
lawyers
and,
later,
the
Court
of
Appeals
when
it
heard
arguments
on
the
matter
in
February.