Harvey Weinstein’s sex crimes conviction is upheld New York court

A New York appeals court on Thursday upheld Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crimes, increasing the likelihood that the disgraced movie producer will serve out a significant portion of his 23-year sentence.
Since last summer, Weinstein, 70, has been awaiting trial in Los Angeles, where he has been charged with several counts of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation, as well as other counts related to sex crimes. The trial date is expected to be set this month.
Reports of Weinstein having sexually assaulted women appeared in The New York Times in fall 2017, leading dozens of others to speak out and eventually igniting what became known as the #MeToo movement, a global repudiation of sexual misconduct powerful men.

It led to a cascade of accusations against others and widespread discussion about the ubiquity of sexual harassment and assault, and the harm such behavior caused.Best of Express PremiumPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
Less than a year later, Weinstein, one of Hollywood’s best-known producers, was indicted Manhattan prosecutors and charged with sex crimes.
His trial began in January 2020, and near the end of the following month, he was found guilty the jury of two felonies: a criminal sexual act in the first degree and third-degree rape. He was acquitted of two charges of predatory sexual assault. That March, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison, and almost a year later his attorneys appealed the decision.
But a panel of judges from the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court, the state’s second-highest court, upheld that conviction and sentence Thursday.