A California appeals court has delivered a decisive blow to Harvey Weinstein's attempts to overturn his 2022 rape conviction, ordering that he be resentenced instead. The 16-year prison term handed down in February 2022 for assaulting an Italian model at the Los Angeles Film Festival remains intact.
The disgraced film producer's lawyers had argued that the trial was fundamentally flawed due to jurors being aware of his prior New York rape conviction, which they claimed prejudiced the proceedings. Furthermore, prosecutors were accused of focusing excessively on Weinstein's character rather than the specific charges against him, introducing evidence related to his general treatment of women.
Another contentious point raised by Weinstein's defence was the alleged false testimony provided by the victim, Jane Doe 1, regarding her relationship with Pascal Vicedomini, a film festival head. The defence argued that questioning on this matter would have demonstrated perjury, as she claimed they were merely friends and colleagues, and would have supported their argument that she was not in her room at the time of the alleged assault.
The California court's decision comes just one day after New York prosecutors dismissed a separate rape charge against Weinstein. That charge stemmed from a 2020 case where he was found guilty of raping actress Jessica Mann, but was later overturned and resulted in mistrials. The dismissal of this charge means Weinstein still faces a September sentencing in New York for an assault conviction involving a different woman, with prosecutors seeking a 20-year prison term.
Weinstein will now face resentencing in California, with any sentence to be served concurrently with his New York sentence. The decision marks another significant development in the long-running case against the disgraced film producer.