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An appeals court on Friday upheld Harvey Weinstein’s 2022 rape and sexual assault conviction in California, but ordered his trial judge to resentence him.
A three-judge panel from the California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously issued the 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 spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said in an email. “At the same time, the court correctly recognized that his sentence cannot stand.”
The decision came a day after prosecutors in New York decided Weinstein would not face a fourth trial there, dropping the #MeToo-era case on Thursday after the accuser said she could not bear to testify again.
The former movie magnate still stands convicted of another sexual felony in New York, and he remains behind bars. But the New York rape charge had remained unresolved after an overturned conviction followed by two hung juries.
In California, Weinstein, 74, was convicted in December 2022 of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault against an Italian model and actor known during the trial as Jane Doe 1. Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
In his appeal, the former Hollywood producer’s lawyers argued that in his Los Angeles County trial, the testimony of the head of a film festival was unfairly limited by Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench, and had been seeking a new trial.
