An appeals court on Friday rejected Harvey Weinstein’s bid to overturn his Los Angeles rape conviction, but ordered a lower court judge to arraign him.
Weinstein, 74, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a model at the Los Angeles Italian Film Festival in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. On appeal, lawyers argued that the trial judge improperly withheld sexually suggestive Facebook messages between the accuser and another man, which undermined her credibility and may have helped her establish an alibi.
In a ruling Friday, a three-judge panel ruled that Mr. Weinstein’s trial lawyers did not comply with the state’s rape shield law, which protects sexual assault accusers from questions by the defense about past sexual conduct. The Board of Appeals similarly held that the trial court’s evidentiary findings were not grounds for overturning the verdict.
“The court’s application of California’s statutory rules of evidence does not violate Mr. Weinstein’s constitutional rights to challenge the prosecution’s case, provide counsel, and confront witnesses,” Justice Michelle Kim wrote on behalf of the unanimous panel.
The appeals panel also rejected a series of other claims, including that the judge erred in allowing the four accusers to testify about uncharged allegations of sexual misconduct. The court found that this testimony was “relevant in demonstrating a propensity to commit the sexual crimes charged in this case.”
The appeals court ordered Mr. Weinstein to resentence. Weinstein was sentenced to eight years in prison for forced oral copulation (the maximum sentence for that crime), six years for forced sexual penetration, and two years for forced rape. Judge Lisa Lenzi ruled that the eight-year sentence was justified because Weinstein had a previous sexual assault conviction in New York.
But Mr. Weinstein’s New York conviction has since been overturned, using it as the basis for a higher term. The appeals court noted that the state attorney general’s office agreed that Mr. Weinstein was entitled to resentence on these grounds and ordered the lower court to do so.
If Wrench were to impose a medium term sentence (six years) for that crime, his sentence would be reduced by a total of two years.
Weinstein’s spokeswoman, Judah Engelmayer, said she was “disappointed” by the ruling and plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
“This is not the end of the appeal process,” he said. “We continue to believe that significant legal errors affected the proceedings and require further review, so we intend to ask the California Supreme Court for review.”
Weinstein was re-convicted last year for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley and faces sentencing in the New York case in September.
