Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers, Lawyer’s React After Verdict Overturned
Dissenting opinions are pouring in after New York’s highest court overturned Harvey Weinstein’s landmark 2020 conviction for felony sex crime charges.
Weinstein’s case kickstarted the #MeToo movement and saw a number of celebrities accuse him of misconduct over the years. On Thursday morning, the New York Court of Appeals determined with a 4–3 vote that Weinstein did not receive a fair trial and that the judge who presided over his case, Justice James M. Burke, allowed witnesses to testify and introduce accusations that were not a part of the former movie producer’s charges.
His 2020 conviction was therefore overturned. Weinstein will be transferred to a California prison, where he was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison on similar charges.
It now falls to the Manhattan District Attorney to decide whether they’ll retry Weinstein. On Thursday morning, the D.A.’s office confirmed that they hope to do just that. “We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” the office said in a statement.
Ashley Judd, the first actress to publicly come forward to accuse Weinstein, told The New York Times that the court’s decision to overturn the verdict “is unfair to survivors…We still live in our truth,” she added. “And we know what happened.”
Amber Tamblyn, an actress who is not one of Weinstein’s accusers but who is a vocal proponent of the #MeToo movement, told NYT that the court’s decision was “a loss to the entire community of women who put their lives and careers on the line to speak out.”
Tamblyn continued: “If there is any good that comes out of this news, I hope that it reignites people and their passion to not just say they want equality, not just say they want safety, but to really work towards it.”
“I’m completely let down by the justice system right now,” lamented actress Katherine Kendall, one of Weinstein’s accusers. “I’m sort of flabbergasted.”
But Kendall struck a tone of hope moving forward. “He will never be free because his name is synonymous with sexual assault,” she said. “Maybe the most important part is the awakening that took place. And that will keep taking place.”
Arthur Aidala, the defense lawyer who represented Weinstein at his 2020 trial, struck a decidedly different tone. He called the overturned verdict “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.”
Weinstein himself couldn’t immediately be reached for reaction. “This happened 10 minutes ago. He doesn’t even know yet,” Aidala said.
Weinstein’s spokesperson was also unaware of the producer’s reaction, as his associates tried in vain to reach the incarcerated mogul at Mohawk Correctional Facility, almost 300 miles outside of Manhattan.
Weinstein’s attorneys plan to make a comment at 1:30 p.m. EST on the steps of the Manhattan Court House.