What it means for #MeToo

NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul whose 2020 rape conviction catalyzed the #MeToo movement, may soon get his day in court — again.

On Thursday, an appeals court in New York overturned his conviction on the grounds that testimony from women who had not filed a case against Weinstein could have biased the jury against him.

Weinstein’s lawyers applauded the decision, with attorney Arthur Aidala telling reporters outside Manhattan Criminal Court that “the law was not fairly applied.”

Others condemned the ruling as a legal maneuver that will make it more difficult for victims of sexual violence.

“The decision is wrong,” Douglas Wigdor, who represented eight of Weinstein’s accusers, told USA TODAY. “The evidence was important to demonstrate the suspect’s motive and intent.”

While few experts dispute the legality of the ruling, advocates for victims of sexual abuse lament the message it sends.

“It is reassuring that the law is capable of self-correction when human error clouds the process,” said Juliet Williams, a professor of gender studies at the University of California-Los Angeles. “At the same time, it is deeply disheartening to live under a justice system that continues to fail victims of sexual violence.”

The testimonies of women who were abused by Weinstein but were not part of the trial were relevant and vital, said Ann Olivarius, an attorney at McAllister Olivarius, a New York and London-based law firm.

“The women who reported being raped by Weinstein, those women are terrified,” she says. That’s why she said it was important to allow the testimonies of others with “reputational information.”

The #MeToo movement sparked by Weinstein’s accusers not only brought the Hollywood power player’s conviction, but also led to Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting and high-profile companion films like 2022’s “She Said,” about the reporters of the New York Times who pursued Weinstein. and convinced his victims to speak out.

For those who work with victims, the court’s ruling reflects “the enormous challenges survivors face in seeking justice, (but) we cannot allow a single outcome of a case to be seen as a benchmark for #MeToo ” said Laura Palumbo, spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. “The movement will still have power and purpose until healing and justice are more accessible.”

Thursday’s ruling does not mean freedom for the producer, who used his power to abuse women – from unknown assistants to stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek and Ashley Judd – who sought advice and opportunities from the Miramax boss, whose films have inspired legends and won numerous Oscars.

On Thursday, Judd wrote on her Instagram Stories: “This is unfair to the survivors. We live in our truth. We know what happened.”

Weinstein will likely be transferred to California, where he was convicted of rape in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. His conviction in New York earned him 23 years in prison.

Legal experts say the appeals court’s decision will likely send a message to judges and prosecutors in future cases, warning both of the possible inadmissibility of their witnesses.

“Diligent prosecutors will try to bring in anything that will help their case, which just means it’s up to the judge to decide what’s appropriate,” said Peter Pullano of the Albany, New York-based firm Tully Rinckey.

“Jurors in this case probably knew that Weinstein was a bad guy based on things they had heard or read,” he says. “But when you’re in criminal court, the analysis should be limited to the charges at hand, not to whether the suspect is a bad guy by reputation.”

Few lawyers expect the reversal in Weinstein’s case to lead to other #MeToo convictions being revisited.

“I don’t see this decision having a precedential effect on other similar cases,” said Neama Rahmani, president of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers. “First, it was a narrow majority in the New York case (a 4-3 decision). And New York law has no control over the laws of California and other states.”

If anything, experts say the appeals court’s ruling will force attorneys to delve deeper into their own state’s laws before bringing forward testimony that could backfire, said Jamie White, a Michigan attorney whose former clients include are more likely to be those who have suffered abuse at the hands of the state. Catholic Church and Team USA gymnastics coach Larry Nassar.

“Generally speaking, a suspect’s prior bad actions are not admissible – there are many exceptions and they vary from state to state,” said White, describing Thursday’s ruling as a “setback for crime victims in general.”

White says that while suspects are not “tried for everything they’ve ever done in their lives,” when past behavior is part of a pattern, as was the case with Weinstein’s decades of abuse, its inclusion should be carefully considered.

In its ruling, the appeals court judges wrote that “the trial court improperly admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes. The remedy for these glaring errors is a new trial.”

White says the use of the word “blatant” is “overreach,” “this is not self-evident at all.”

But he adds that he doesn’t expect the decision to “change the #MeToo movement.”

If and when a new trial for Weinstein is ordered in New York, it remains to be seen how many of his accusers will want to go through the legal ordeal again.

Wigdor says, “Every time a survivor tells their story, it’s re-traumatizing. Now there’s also the trauma of having the decision reversed after all their hard work and effort.”

But at least one of Weinstein’s accusers — Mimi Haley — is ready, said her attorney, Gloria Allred.

“While the victims lost this battle, they did not lose the war,” Allred said in a statement. “We will continue to fight for justice for victims, both in criminal and civil cases, until there is a fair trial.

“Not only for the suspects, but also for those who claim to be victims of sexual predators.”

Contributors: Eduardo Cuevas, Naledi Ushe, Taijuan Moorman and Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY

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