New York court overturns Harvey Weinstein sex crime conviction

NEW YORK — New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's 2020 conviction on sex crime charges and ordered a new trial.

In their 4-3 decision, judges cited errors in the way the trial had been conducted, including admitting the testimony of women who were not part of the charges against him. "Order reversed and a new trial ordered," the judges wrote.

The appeals court also said the trial judge compounded the error by letting Weinstein be cross-examined in a way that portrayed him in a "highly prejudicial" light.

"The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial," the court said.

A Manhattan court in 2020 sentenced Weinstein to 23 years in prison for sexual assault and rape. In 2022, he was convicted again, this time by a Los Angeles court that found him guilty of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object involving one woman. He was given a 16-year sentence, to be served after completing the earlier sentence. — Agence France-Presse