Ashely Judd, Who Accused Harvey Weinstein Of #MeToo, Reacts To Ruling Overturning His Conviction

A New York appeals court overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction on Thursday, saying the trial judge should not have allowed other women to testify about alleged assaults the movie mogul wasn’t charged with. New York’s Court of Appeals found the trial judge in the rape case prejudiced Weinstein with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that Weinstein wasn’t charged with.

In its 4-3 decision, the court’s majority said it was an “abuse of judicial discretion” for Judge James Burke to allow testimony from these other women about “loathsome alleged bad acts and despicable behaviour.”

Ashely Judd's reaction to overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction

Ashley Judd, whose on-the-record statement accusing Weinstein of sexually harassing her as a young actor helped launch the case, said after the New York court ruling, "This is what it’s like to be a woman in America, living with male entitlement to our bodies.”

Will Weinstein be released from prison?

Harvey Weinstein, 72, will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years. He  has been serving time in New York, most recently at the Mohawk Correctional Facility, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Albany.

He could be taken to California to serve his sentence there, though he might be held in New York while awaiting a new trial if prosecutors choose to pursue one.

Meanwhile, Weinstein maintains he is innocent of the charges of criminal sex acts involving forced oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013. He said any sex was consensual.

(With inputs from AP News)