Harvey Weinstein appealed his sexual assault conviction in California after New York overturned his rape and sexual assault conviction, multiple media outlets reported on Friday.
The appeal was filed in California’s Second Appellate District. His lawyers claimed that the former movie mogul “was wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting Jane Doe 1.” Weinstein was convicted in late 2022 in the Los Angeles case, where he was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Weinstein’s legal team argued in the appeal that the former film producer did not get a fair trial because evidence relating to Jane Doe 1 on the day the alleged assault occurred was excluded. They also said that the prosecution did not disclose Jane Doe 1’s romantic affair and also included alleged criminal assaults as evidence, of which, at the time, Weinstein had not yet been charged.
“The prosecution’s case regarding JD1 was weak and based, in part, on evidence it knew to be false,” her lawyers said in the appeal, according to NBC News. “The jury was misled about the veracity of JD1 and prevented from considering groundbreaking evidence that pointed to the defendant’s innocence and contradicted the prosecution’s theory of guilt.”
Her lawyer also said that they were not allowed to question Jane Doe 1 about her finances. They said the jury was left “with another false impression of JD1, namely that she had no financial interest in the outcome of the case.”
“Weinstein’s appeal presents the same tired arguments that he has previously presented to the trial court multiple times, unsuccessfully,” said Jane Doe 1’s attorney. CNN. “We are of the strong opinion that the trial court properly examined the evidence and made all the correct decisions in its evidentiary rulings. We are confident that Weinstein’s appeal will be denied and that he will spend many years in prison.”
The West Coast appeal comes as Weinstein’s 2020 sexual assault and rape conviction was overturned by New York’s highest court in April in a 4-3 ruling.
“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of prior, uncharged, alleged sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the court’s late April ruling said. “The solution to these egregious errors is a new trial.”
Shortly after, he was hospitalized for several tests while on his way to a New York prison.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
