NEW YORK — Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein appealed his 2020 rape and sexual assault conviction to New York’s highest court, arguing his trial judge unfairly permitted prosecutors to introduce testimony about prior incidents of alleged sexual misconduct not charged in the indictment.
In a filing Tuesday with the New York Court of Appeals, Weinstein also argued he was prevented from testifying in his own defense because prosecutors would have then put in evidence of 28 alleged prior incidents and purported “brutish behavior” going back some 30 years.
“This ruling left Weinstein with no choice but to remain silent against his will, as taking the stand would have been the legal equivalent of suicide,” Weinstein’s lawyers said Tuesday in their appeal.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a Manhattan state jury convicted him of rape and sexual assault in 2020. He was also convicted of rape and sexual assault in a separate trial in Los Angeles last month and is scheduled to be sentenced in that case on Feb. 23.
Weinstein’s New York lawyers Arthur Aidala and Barry Kamins argued in a 79-page filing that New York State Supreme Court Justice James Burke, who presided over the trial, unfairly allowed the jury to hear testimony about alleged uncharged crimes, violating his rights to a fair trial.
“The trial court repeatedly abandoned its duty to safeguard Weinstein’s constitutional guarantees and procedural rights, leaving him powerless to defend against an unchecked prosecutor whose strategy was to swamp the jury with prejudicial bad character evidence to distract from the fallibilities in the complainants’ stories,” Weinstein’s lawyers said.
Burke allowed the jury to hear from accusers including “Sopranos” actor Annabella Sciorra, who testified that Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s. Prosecutors also called Sciorra’s friend, actor Rosie Perez, who corroborated her account.
Prosecutors also called three other women to show that Weinstein used “forcible compulsion” on two victims. Weinstein argued during the trial that the sexual encounters were consensual and that he was unfairly prejudiced by this testimony.
In June, an appeals court in Manhattan upheld his conviction, rejecting his claims that he was denied a fair trial because of the judge’s errors, including allowing testimony about alleged uncharged crimes.
Weinstein’s downfall, following reports by the New York Times and the New Yorker in 2017 that he preyed on dozens of women, helped spark the #MeToo movement. That led to a global reckoning about sexual harassment and assault and accusations against numerous leaders in entertainment, media and other industries.
Weinstein’s legal team argued Tuesday that #MeToo fallout also deprived him of a fair trial, saying “an unrelenting deluge of publicity, vocal special interest groups, and a morally outraged public, created a carnival atmosphere before and during Weinstein’s trial that deprived him of the judicial serenity and calm to which he was entitled.”
The case is People of the State of New York v. Weinstein, APL 2022-00112-010823 (New York Court of Appeals)
