NEW YORK — A New York appellate court has upheld Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction, rejecting the disgraced movie mogul’s claims that the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced him by allowing women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the criminal case.
The ruling Thursday by a five-judge panel in the state’s intermediate appeals court affirmed the milestone verdict in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.
Weinstein (70) is currently in California jail. He was extradited to California last year. Weinstein is now awaiting trial for charges that he assaulted five Beverly Hills women between 2004 and 2013.
Weinstein was sentenced in New York for a criminal sexual act. He had forcibly performed oral sex in 2006 on a television and film production assistant. In 2013, Weinstein was also convicted of rape in third degree in an attack on an actress.
He was acquitted of first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault stemming from actor Annabella Sciorra’s allegations of a mid-1990s rape.
Unless victims are willing to speak out publicly, the Associated Press will not name them.
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