Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers have argued in an appeal that he did not get a fair trial when he was convicted of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The brief filed on Friday in California comes six weeks after his similar conviction and 23-year sentence in New York was overturned by the state’s highest court.
The California appeal argued the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor he was convicted of raping had a sexual relationship with the director of a film festival that had brought both Weinstein and the woman to Los Angeles at the time of the alleged attack.
Weinstein’s lawyers argued that the judge deprived him of ‘his constitutional rights to present a defense and led to a miscarriage of justice.’
The attorneys said the judge was wrong to allow jurors to know about Weinstein’s previous, now-vacated conviction in New York, and that the jury was unfairly prejudiced by testimony from women about alleged assaults Weinstein was not charged with.
Harvey Weinstein´s lawyers argued in an appeal that he did not get a fair trial when he was convicted of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The California appeal argued the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor he was convicted of raping had a sexual relationship with the director of a film festival
Similar testimony led to his overturned conviction in New York, where the 72-year-old is now being held as Manhattan prosecutors plan to retry him.
‘The introduction of this excessive, cumulative, and remote evidence of prior `sexual assaults´ simply signaled to the jury that the Defendant was a bad man who should be convicted of something irrespective of whether the prosecution proved its case,’ the filing said.
At his California trial, Weinstein was charged with sexually assaulting four women, but a jury convicted him of an attack on just one, Evgeniya Chernyshova.
Chernyshova testified that Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room during the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013.
Weinstein’s lawyers argue that Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench was wrong to prevent his defense from showing the jury Facebook messages that showed Chernyshova and the festival’s founder, Pascal Vicedomini, had a sexual relationship.
The messages would have shown that both were perjuring themselves when they testified that they were only friends and colleagues, the brief contended.
And it would have bolstered defense arguments that the woman was not even in her hotel room but was with Vicedomini at the time of the alleged attack.
The arguments were similar to those made by Weinstein´s attorneys in a motion for a new trial that Lench rejected before his sentencing.
Chernyshova, seen here in 2013, testified that Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room during the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013
Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a hearing on May 29, 2024 in New York City
The defense appeals brief said three of the jurors signed affidavits saying they now regretted signing on to a unanimous guilty verdict
Weinstein has since hired appellate attorneys including Jennifer Bonjean, a Chicago-based lawyer whose appeal in Bill Cosby´s sexual assault case got his conviction in Pennsylvania permanently thrown out.
Chernyshova went only by Jane Doe 1 during the trial. She has since come forward publicly.
‘Weinstein’s appeal makes the same tired arguments that he previously made multiple times, without success, to the trial court,’ Chernyshova’s attorney, David Ring, said in an email Friday.
‘We are of the strong opinion that the trial court vetted the evidence appropriately and made all the correct decisions in its evidentiary rulings. We are confident that Weinstein´s appeal will be denied and he will spend many years in prison.’
The defense appeals brief said three of the jurors signed affidavits saying they now regretted signing on to a unanimous guilty verdict.
The filing says the ‘jurors confirmed that they did not believe the pair were romantically linked and explained that if they had access to such evidence it would have changed their calculus of whether any rape occurred.’
And Weinstein’s attorneys argued that a lawsuit filed by Chernyshova shortly after the verdict demonstrates that they should have been allowed to question whether she had financial motives in the state’s outcome.
Weinstein’s defense lawyers first filed a notice of appeal in April 2023 and asked for several extensions before filing Friday’s brief. The prosecution has until Aug. 6 to file its response.
(L-R) David Parfitt, Dianna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, and Marc Morman celebrate their Oscar win for Shakespeare in Love
Weinstein (L) and actress Meryl Streep attend the n Academy Of Cinema And Television Arts International Awards Ceremony at Soho House on January 27, 2012 in West Hollywood
On May 29, the disgraced film producer appeared in New York Supreme Criminal Court, where he was brought out in a wheelchair and without handcuffs
On the east coast, Weinstein is facing the possibility of a new indictment after the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office received complaints from women who were not ready to speak out in 2020.
On May 29, the disgraced film producer appeared in New York Supreme Criminal Court, where he was brought out in a wheelchair and without handcuffs.
Prosecutors told the court he could face a new indictment as it is ‘actively investigating’ more claims of sexual assault against Weinstein and will be in a position to clarify at the end of June.
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‘Some people who were not ready to speak out in 2020 now appear to do so in 2024,’ Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told the court.
‘We’ll speak to advisors as to what falls within the statute of limitations and we will do everything in our power to make sure every survivor’s identity is protected.’
Judge Curtis Farber ordered him to return to court on July 9 and remanded him in jail without bail.
Prosecutor Blumberg also accused Weinstein’s lawyers of intending to intimidate witnesses in the upcoming trial by making public statements which attack their ‘credibility and character’.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office filed a letter on May 30 which asked the judge to urge the defense attorneys to stop.
‘It’s the people’s position that it is especially critical now that your honor address this as in recent years survivors have disclosed being sexually assaulted by the defendant.
But Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala disputed the claims and said: ‘Survivors, that’s already a conclusive term. Not a witness, a survivor.’
He then accused the prosecution of doing exactly what they claim he did.
Prosecutor Blumberg also accused Weinstein’s lawyers (pictured) of intending to intimidate witnesses in the upcoming trial by making public statements which attack their ‘credibility and character’
On the east coast, Weinstein is facing the possibility of a new indictment after the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office received complaints from women who were not ready to speak out in 2020
‘That means somebody has already endured some sort of pain. In 32 years, no one has ever had to remind me of my ethical obligations. However, I am in a very unique position.
‘Unlike the other trial going on in this courthouse where half is for one person and half is against, there aren’t too many fans of Mr. Weinstein.
‘I made some statements about a witness who testified in the last case. It is our position that lies were told in the last trial. I didn’t say anything to intimidate anyone.
‘I just said here’s the truth, witnesses who testified the first time and lied on the stand will be re-examined on the stand.’
Aidala added: ‘The other thing I am up against is the prosecution has their own media machine.
‘Your honor I am aware of my ethical obligations and my rights and Mr. Weinstein’s rights to have someone zealously defending him.
‘I can’t sit by and have mouthpieces for the DA’s office, take the microphone and beat him up when no one is there to defend him.
‘He said he is innocent from day one and he is saying he is innocent today. He turned into the poster boy for an international movement.’
Prosecutor Blumberg responded and said: ‘My objection is not what he says in the courtroom, it is leaving and making public statements outside in a press conference specifically designed to intimidate witnesses.’
Judge Farber said: ‘Both sides are entitled to a fair trial. This can only be attained if the pool of jurors is free of taint.
‘Both sides are directed to refrain from pandering to the press. It will be a court of law alone when justice is to be served and not a court of opinion.’
More than 80 women came forward to accuse the Oscar-winning producer of sexual assault and harassment.
The allegations first surfaced publicly in a New York Times story in 2017 detailing decades of alleged abuse.
Actresses Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd were among those who were named in the piece as accusers.
The allegations sparked a sea change in attitudes towards sexual misconduct in the workplace.