Harvey Weinstein's NY sex-crimes conviction upheld by state appeals court

Harvey Weinstein's New York sex-crimes conviction was upheld unanimously Thursday by a five-member state appellate court that concluded his 2020 trial in Manhattan was fair, despite his lawyers' argument that prosecutors offered the jury potentially prejudicial testimony from accusers of uncharged crimes.

"We reject defendant’s arguments, and affirm the

conviction in all respects," the 45-page decision said.

The ruling was notable because some members of the panel during a December hearing questioned the role prejudicial evidence played in the Weinstein trial, appearing open to possibly reversing his conviction on two sex crimes and ordering a new trial.

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But the ruling showed that those judges evidently changed their views.

"We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence, and we have considered defendant’s remaining arguments and find them unavailing," the opinion concluded.

The judgment "rendered March 11, 2020, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, and sentencing him to consecutive terms of 20 years and 3 years, respectively, should be affirmed," the opinion said.

All five judges concurred.

Alvin Bragg Jr., the Manhattan district attorney who succeeded Cyrus Vance Jr., the former district attorney who convicted Weinstein, said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY that he was "gratified" by the decision, "which upholds a monumental conviction that changed the way prosecutors and courts approach complex prosecutions of sexual predators.

"I am grateful to the brave survivors in this case for their remarkable courage and candor, as well as the jurors who dedicated their time and effort to securing a fair and just verdict," Bragg said.

Juda Engelmayer, spokesman for Weinstein's New York legal team, issued a statement to USA TODAY: "We are disappointed and sad for Mr. Weinstein. Obviously. We will be pursuing this in the Court of Appeals, and beyond and will study every option available."

Gloria Allred, Oone of Weinstein's most persistent legal foes, who represents multiple accusers including Mimi Haley, who was a key prosecution witness against him in New York, told USA TODAY she was "thrilled" about the decision and proud of Haley and the New York prosecutors.

"Justice was done, but now I am also looking forward to the criminal prosecution of Mr. Weinstein in Los Angeles, where I also represent alleged victims for whom charges  have been filed there," Allred said.

In February 2020, Weinstein, 69, was convicted of two sex crimes (out of three charged) following an historic weeks-long trial featuring graphic testimony from six tearful accusers. Weinstein was found guilty of criminal sexual act in the first degree related to Haley and rape in the third degree related to accuser Jessica Mann.

It was a split verdict: Weinstein escaped the two most serious charges of predatory sexual assault, plus one charge of rape in the first degree, which spared him the possibility of a sentence that included life in prison.

The appellate court opinion featured a lengthy recounting of all of the charges against Weinstein and details of what each accuser testified to at the trial.

The appellate panel first dealt with Weinstein's multiple procedural claims, and then rejected "his various arguments that the trial was patently unfair, and finally his position that, in any event, (prosecutors) did not present sufficient evidence to convict him and that the evidence weighed in his favor."

The panel acknowledged that introduction of evidence of alleged "prior bad acts," called Molineux witnesses in New York, by a defendant is potentially prejudicial.

"It is inherent in the nature of (such) evidence that it will be detrimental to a defendant’s interests; the case law consistently presumes that there will be some degree of prejudice to a defendant," the decision read. "Because … the decision whether to admit Molineux evidence is a 'delicate' one, the decision is left to the sound discretion of the trial court and the decision will not be overturned unless there is an improvident exercise of that discretion."

The panel found no evidence to doubt the decisions of the trial judge, James M. Burke, to allow prosecutors to introduce witnesses to testify about uncharged crimes in order to establish an alleged pattern of behavior by Weinstein.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in a state prison and in March 2020, on his 68th birthday, he was moved to the maximum security Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo.

He was extradited to Los Angeles in July 2021 following a series of virtual extradition hearings from his prison during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far, Weinstein and Bill Cosby are the only two major Hollywood figures targeted by the #MeToo movement who have been tried and convicted on sex crimes, among the hundreds of men accused since the effort to purge and punish sexual harassers and assailants in entertainment began in the fall of 2017.

It also comes after a stunning reversal last summer in Pennsylvania, when the state's high court, citing constitutional grounds, overturned the 2018 sex-crime conviction of Cosby. The decision released him from a state prison after nearly three years into a 10-year sentence and shut down the possibility of a new, third trial for the comic actor formerly known as "America's Dad."

The U.S. Supreme Court in March declined to review that decision, leaving Cosby free from the label of convicted sex-offender while his prosecutors and legion of accusers remain enraged and disconsolate.

Bill Cosby's civil trial details: Cosby accused of assaulting Judy Huth as teenager during opening statements

The ruling could have an impact in Weinstein's ongoing legal troubles in Los Angeles, where he was extradited in 2021 and is now in jail awaiting trial on similar sex-crime charges involving at least one of the prior bad acts accusers who testified against him in Manhattan.

His Los Angeles lawyer, Mark Werksman, said the New York court's ruling was "terrible."

"This is a terrible ruling and a huge disappointment," Werksman told USA TODAY. "It extinguishes any hope we had that Harvey Weinstein could get a fair trial (in Los Angeles). We are reviewing our legal options to challenge this patently unfair ruling."

Weinstein is facing a dozen counts of sexual assault, including forcible rape, against five women in encounters predominantly at Beverly Hills and Los Angeles hotels dating back to 2004. In addition, prosecutors in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office plan to call accusers alleging uncharged crimes to show an alleged pattern of prior bad acts by Weinstein.

During Weinstein's 2020 trial, prosecutors offered the jury testimony from "prior bad acts" witnesses: three women who alleged Weinstein also assaulted them but whose claims were too old to prosecute or did not occur in New York.

Weinstein's lawyers argued before the trial that use of such testimony is more prejudicial than probative, but the judge who presided over the trial decided to allow it following a secret hearing.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harvey Weinstein's NY sex-crimes conviction upheld