Members of a five-judge panel in the state's intermediate appeals court appeared incensed with Judge James Burke's decision to allow the witnesses and for another ruling that cleared the way for prosecutors to confront Weinstein with evidence about other misbehaviour if he had testified.
A New York appeals court blasted Manhattan prosecutors Wednesday for filling out Harvey Weinstein's rape trial last year with what one judge deemed 바카라incredibly prejudicial testimony바카라 from women whose allegations weren't part of the criminal charges against him 바카라 a strategy that now has the potential to jeopardize the disgraced movie mogul's conviction.
Several judges on the panel appeared open to considering reversing Weinstein's conviction and ordering a new trial. A decision isn't expected until January.
Judge Sallie Manzanet-Daniels was particularly vocal, saying that prosecutors had piled on with 바카라incredibly prejudicial바카라 testimony from additional witnesses and that socking away details about Weinstein's behaviour 바카라 in some cases boorish but not sexual 바카라 amounted to overkill.
바카라Let's inflame the jury's heart by telling them that he beat up his brother during a meeting. I just I don't see how there is a balance there on that,바카라 Manzanet-Daniels said, challenging a lawyer from the Manhattan district attorney's office who implored the judges to uphold Weinstein's conviction.
Weinstein, 69, was convicted in February 2020 of a criminal sex act for forcibly performing 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 was acquitted of first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault stemming from actor Annabella Sciorra's allegations of a mid-1990s rape.
The verdict was a landmark in the #MeToo movement that was spawned by women coming forward with allegations against Weinstein. He maintains his innocence and contends that any sexual activity was consensual.
Burke, the Manhattan judge who presided over Weinstein's trial, allowed prosecutors to bolster their case with testimony from three women who alleged Weinstein also violated them but whose claims did not lead to charges in the New York case.
Rules on calling witnesses to testify about so-called 바카라prior bad acts바카라 vary by state and was an issue in Bill Cosby's successful appeal of his sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania. New York's rules, shaped by a landmark decision in a 1901 poisoning case, are among the more restrictive.
Weinstein's lawyers argued that extra testimony went beyond what's normally allowed 바카라 detailing motive, opportunity, intent, or a common scheme or plan 바카라 and essentially put the ex-studio boss on trial for crimes he wasn't charged with and hadn't had an opportunity to defend himself against.
Burke's ruling allowing prosecutors to use horror stories from Weinstein's past to attack his credibility worked to prevent him from taking the witness stand, Weinstein lawyer Barry Kamins told the appellate panel.
바카라The jury was overwhelmed by such prejudicial, bad evidence,바카라 Kamins argued. 바카라This was a trial of Harvey Weinstein's character. The people were making him out to be a bad person.바카라
Kamins also challenged Burke's refusal to remove a juror who had written a novel involving predatory older men, as well as his decision to allow prosecutors to have an expert on victim behaviour and rape myths testify while rejecting testimony on similar subjects from defense experts.
Weinstein, sentenced to 23 years in state prison in New York, did not attend Thursday's arguments. He was extradited to California earlier this year and is jailed there while awaiting trial on charges he assaulted five women in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013.
With inputs from PTI.