Harvey Weinstein: Ashley Judd spearheads the opposition to the overturned conviction

Harvey Weinstein: Ashley Judd spearheads the opposition to the overturned conviction

Ashley Judd, a Hollywood actress, describes the overturning of Harvey Weinstein's 2020 conviction as a "hard day for survivors."

"But we live according to our truth," Ms. Judd said in an interview with BBC News.

A turning point in the #MeToo movement was the lawsuit against Weinstein.

The New York Court of Appeals declared that witnesses with claims unconnected to the issues at hand had tainted the first trial and ordered a new one. Weinstein continues to insist in his innocence.

The 72-year-old is still behind bars. He has a second conviction in Los Angeles.

Complainants, attorneys, and #MeToo advocates criticized the New York conviction's reversal as a setback for victims of abuse.

The first actress to publicly voice her allegations against Weinstein, Ms. Judd, said that learning that a new trial had been scheduled had upset her day.

The actress, who is a member of the Silence Breakers organization and has featured in movies such as Heat, Norma Jean & Marilyn, and Ruby in Paradise, continued, calling the court's ruling a betrayal of victims of aual assault.

"Oftentimes survivors say that the betrayal and the moral injury we suffer within the system is worse than the aual body invasion we experienced in the first place," said Ms Judd.

She also expressed her gratitude to the witnesses in the Weinstein case in New York.

"We know what happened and the truth is consistent," she said.

Weinstein's 2020 trial had "erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior aual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes," the New York Appeals Court said in a four-three decision.

It also claimed that Weinstein was presented in a "highly prejudicial" manner during the trial judge's permitting of his cross-examination. "The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial," it said.

In 2020, Weinstein's trial resulted in his conviction for the aual assaults of two women: Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress, in 2013 and former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006. He spent 23 years behind bars.

The defense team for Weinstein claimed that the accusers and the film boss had had consensual a.

at California last year, Weinstein received a 16-year term for the 2013 of an Italian actress and model at a Beverly Hills hotel.

The New York appeal has no bearing on the subsequent conviction. While the Manhattan district attorney contemplates starting a new trial, he will stay in the Mohawk Correctional Facility in the state of New York.

Advocates, attorneys, and victims of aual assault by powerful men referred to Thursday's decision as "tragic" and a "step backwards" for the rights of these victims.

Mimi Haley was a crucial prosecution witness in the New York case. Gloria Allred, her attorney, claimed that Mimi would be open to testifying again "even though the process of testifying was gruelling and retraumatizing for Mimi."

"Although victims have lost this battle, they have not lost the war," she said, praising Mimi for her bravery and will to keep speaking out for the truth. We're going to keep fighting for justice.

A ruling that the Silence Breakers considered to be "profoundly unjust" would not be acceptable to its members, they had previously said.

Members, including Ms. Judd, said at a press conference in New York that they will keep fighting for the rights of victims of aual assault and violence.

The ruling, according to Katherine Kendall, who said Weinstein had followed her around a hotel room while she was naked, is a "terrible reminder that victims of aual assault just don't get accountability". "I'm completely let down by the justice system right now," she said.

Tomi-Ann Roberts, a psychology professor at Colorado College who claims Weinstein aually assaulted her in 1984, expressed her hope that the reversal of his conviction will "re-energise the #MeToo movement."

Victims of aual assault "who go up against powerful men rarely get justice," she said. However, it's crucial that we continue to speak out.

The appellate court's ruling, according to attorney Douglas Wigdor, who represented eight of Weinstein's victims, is "a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of aual violence".

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"Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts... the jury received instruction on the relevance of this testimony," he said. "It will require the victims to endure yet another trial."

Attorney Lindsay Goldbrum, who represented six Weinstein victims, called the appellate court's criticism of the use of unrelated witnesses a "leap backwards" and detrimental to future cases.

The witnesses, according to her, "had nothing to gain personally from taking part in the trial." Their only objective was to provide dozens of other women who had endured such suffering a voice."

Among the justices who dissented from the appeal judgment was Madeline Singas, who said that "this court continues to thwart the steady gains those who survived of aual violence have fought for in our criminal justice system" over the result.

Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's attorney, hailed the reversal as a victory for the justice system.

At a recent seminar in New York, he said, "We knew that Harvey Weinstein did not get a fair trial, through the bottom of our hearts, from our collective centuries of experience."

Even if there are still certain persons in our society who are highly disliked, we still need to treat them properly within the law. Harvey Weinstein did not get a fair trial under the law."

He said that his client was prepared to provide his side of the story in a fresh trial.

The producer and his brother Bob were among Hollywood's biggest names until the accusations against them surfaced.

In 1979, they co-founded Miramax Films, a distribution firm bearing the names of their father Max and mother Miriam. Disney purchased it in 1993.

Shakespeare in Love (1998) was one of their blockbusters; Weinstein shared the best picture Oscar for it. Weinstein's films have won 81 statuettes and over 300 Oscar nominations throughout the years.