The State of New York Court of Appeals has granted Harvey Weinstein permission to take the appeal of his 2020 rape conviction and hear the 70-year-old disgraced movie mogul's case after the appellate division, a lower court, upheld his conviction in June.
The five-justice appellate panel unanimously ruled against overturning the verdict wherein Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in New York. The defendant was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes, as per Fox News.
Weinstein's File To Appeal
Weinstein's landmark trial was among those during the #MeToo movement that found him guilty of criminal sexual assault and rape in the third degree. The defendant argued certain testimony allowed at trial was improper, and a juror who wrote a novel about "predatory older men" should have been disqualified.
The disgraced movie mogul's attorneys now have until Oct. 18 to file a brief with the court to begin the appellate process. Previously, the Appellate Division's First Department upheld the conviction, but outgoing Chief Judge Janet DiFiore granted Weinstein's motion for leave to file an appeal.
According to ABC News, Weinstein released a statement saying, "I am innocent of these charges, and I am so grateful to my attorneys for working hard and smart of this. Their hard work will help me prove my innocence in the end. I look forward to this opportunity to be heard by the New York Court of Appeals."
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A spokesman for the defendant said in a statement that the court's decision "demonstrates that there is, in fact, merit to the appeal. There was plenty wrong with the trial and conviction and Harvey's attorneys will do what is needed to prove his innocence of the charges."
On Wednesday, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the latest development, which brought the charges against Weinstein. The defendant's sentence included 20 years for criminal sexual assault in the first degree, which stems from an accusation from former "Project Runway" production assistant Mimi Haley.
Sexual Assault Charges
The sentence also included three years for rape in the third degree, stemming from an accusation from Jessica Mann. Weinstein faced a minimum of probation and a maximum of four years in prison on the latter conviction and between five and 25 years on the former.
He was found not guilty during his trial of the more serious charges of predatory sexual assault and rape in the first degree. The disgraced movie mogul is currently imprisoned in Los Angeles and is awaiting trial there on sex crime charges. He also faces four felony sexual assault charges for allegedly attacking two women in separate incidents in February 2013 within a day of each other.
Arthur L. Aidala, who represents Weinstein, said that the permission for an appeal was not about whether or not the defendant was innocent or guilty but if he got a fair trial or not. They noted that it was about whether the trial judge followed the law at the time of the sentencing of the disgraced movie mogul, Page Six reported.
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