An appeals court on Friday rejected Harvey Weinstein‘s bid to overturn his rape conviction in Los Angeles, but ordered a lower court judge to resentence him.
Weinstein, 74, was convicted in 2022 of sexually assaulting a model at the L.A.-Italia Film Festival, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. On appeal, his lawyers argued that the trial judge improperly withheld sexually suggestive Facebook messages between the accuser and another man that would have undermined her credibility and helped to establish an alibi.
In its ruling on Friday, the three-judge panel ruled that Weinstein’s trial attorneys had failed to adhere to the state’s rape shield law, which protects sex assault accusers from defense questions about past sexual conduct. The appeals panel similarly also found that the trial court’s evidentiary rulings were not grounds to overturn the verdict.
“The court’s application of California statutory rules of evidence did not infringe on Weinstein’s constitutional rights to challenge the prosecution’s case, present a defense, and confront the witnesses against him,” wrote Justice Michelle Kim, on behalf of a unanimous panel.
The appellate panel rejected a series of other arguments as well, including a claim that the judge erred by allowing four accusers to testify about uncharged allegations of sexual misconduct. The court found that the testimony “was relevant to show his propensity to commit the sexual offenses charged in this case.”
