A day after scoring a mistrial win of sorts in his latest New York rape case, Harvey Weinstein was hit with a big loss in LA as an appeals court refused to overturn the once powerful and much accused producer’s 2022 West Coast sexual assault conviction – with a twist.
“The sentence is vacated and the matter is remanded for re-sentencing,” a posting online from California 2nd District Court of Appeals said Friday. “In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed,” the unanimous decision by a trio of judges added of the 2024 launched appeal.
That re-sentencing order will see the 16-year stint in prison for rape and other sex crimes that LA Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench put forth in February 2023, tossed out with the reset button swiped
That sentence three years ago against the now 74-year-old ailing Weinstein was based in part on the 23 years in prison that the Pulp Fiction producer was given in 2020 after being convicted by a NYC jury. All good and done, until that 2020 sex crimes sentence was tossed out in April 2024 and a new Empire State trial ordered by the New York Court of Appeals in a 4-3 ruling.
Today, the appeal panel stated in their 112-page ruling that Judge Lench “imposed an upper term sentence based on a now-invalid aggravating factor.”
More than likely, based on Golden State statutes, the eight years Weinstein received for the forcible oral copulation conviction will be reduced by a couple of years. All in all, Weinstein will probably end up with a 12- to 14-year new total sentence from Judge Lench.
Also in the mix on the other side of the nation, after two more mixed verdict trials, the June 25 choice by the Manhattan D.A. not to pursue a fourth rape trial for the incarcerated Weinstein came after accuser Jessica Mann understandably decided she did not want to testify again. A sentencing in the convictions out of the retrials is expected in the fall in NYC.
Out West, a parallel legal process has had its own stops and starts.
Following an almost two-month City of Angels trial, the jury found Weinstein guilty on Dec. 19, 2022 on all counts in relation to Jane Doe #1. Yet, the panel of eight men and four women in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center said the producer was not guilty of sexual battery of Jane Doe #2. Further complicating things, the jury was deadlocked on charges on Jane Doe #3 and Jane Doe #4, that latter being California First partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
In Friday’s ruling itself, after April 23 oral arguments by prosecutors and defense, the panel of judges made a point of dismissing Weinstein’s defense team’s contention that Judge Lench incorrectly allowed other accusers to take the stand in LA in 2002 to tell of their horrific experiences with the innocence-insisting producer. The words from those women were “relevant to show his propensity to commit the sexual offenses charged in this case,” the appeal panel stated.
Unsurprisingly, Weinstein’s team isn’t taking the hit laying down.
“This is not the end of the appellate process,” a Weinstein rep said Friday after the appeal ruling. “We intend to seek review in the California Supreme Court because we continue to believe significant legal errors affected the proceedings and warrant further review.”
