A California appeals court upheld the 2022 conviction of former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in a case involving rape and sexual assault. However, the court ruled that he must be resentenced.
The unanimous decision was issued by a three-judge panel of California’s Second District Court of Appeal. The court rejected Weinstein’s attempt to overturn the guilty verdict, finding that the judge in Los Angeles had not violated his constitutional rights.
At the same time, the appeals court found it necessary to reconsider the length of the sentence. The judge who sentenced Weinstein to 16 years in prison had relied in part on his convictions in New York, which were later overturned because of “egregious” judicial errors.
The decision came a day after prosecutors in New York dropped another case against Weinstein. He will not face a fourth rape trial in New York after the complainant said she could not endure another trial in one of the key cases of the MeToo era.
The New York charge remains unresolved after the overturned conviction was followed by two trials in which jurors could not reach a unanimous decision.
“We are disappointed by today’s decision and respectfully disagree with the Court of Appeal’s conclusions regarding the fairness of Mr. Weinstein’s trial,” Weinstein’s representative, Juda Engelmayer, told the Associated Press. “At the same time, the court correctly recognized that his sentence cannot stand.”
According to Engelmayer, the defense plans to appeal to the California Supreme Court because it believes the trial was affected by serious legal errors.
The 74-year-old Weinstein remains in prison after being convicted in a sexual-offense case in New York. Sentencing in that case, in which prosecutors are seeking 20 years in prison, is expected in September.