Harvey Weinstein Is Granted Appeal of Rape, Sex-Assault Conviction

Harvey Weinstein has been granted a request to appeal his rape and sexual assault conviction to New York’s highest court.

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore granted the request on Aug. 19, said Gary Spencer, a spokesperson for the Court of Appeals in Albany.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and a criminal sexual act after a 2020 trial in Manhattan. He is currently jailed in Los Angeles awaiting trial in October on separate rape and sexual assault charges involving five women.

In June, an appeals court in Manhattan rejected Weinstein’s claims that he was denied a fair trial because the judge made errors, including allowing the jury to hear evidence about uncharged sexual assaults from other female accusers.

His lawyers argued that he was tried and convicted in the turmoil of the #MeToo movement rather than for the specific crimes with which he was charged.

Arthur Aidala and Barry Kamins, lawyers for Weinstein, didn’t immediately respond to voicemail and email messages seeking comment on the ruling.

During his trial, the jury heard from accusers including “Sopranos” actor Annabella Sciorra, who testified that Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s. Prosecutors also called Sciorra’s friend, actor Rosie Perez, who corroborated her account.

Prosecutors won permission to call three other women to show that Weinstein used “forcible compulsion” on two victims. Weinstein argued throughout the trial that the sexual encounters were consensual.

Weinstein’s downfall, following reports by the New York Times and the New Yorker in 2017 that he preyed on dozens of women, helped spark the #MeToo movement. That led to a global reckoning about sexual harassment and assault and accusations against numerous leaders in entertainment, media and other industries.

Photo: Harvey Weinstein, former co-chairman of the Weinstein Co., center, arrives at state supreme court in New York, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020 / Bloomberg.