An appeals court in California has upheld Harvey Weinstein’s 2022 conviction for rape and sexual assault but has ordered a re-sentencing. The ruling, issued Friday by a three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, affirmed Weinstein’s guilt while finding issues with the original sentence that require reconsideration by the trial judge.
Weinstein, 74, was convicted in December 2022 of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault involving Evgeniya Chernyshova, an Italian model and actor who testified under the pseudonym Jane Doe 1 during the trial. The charges stemmed from an incident in 2013 when Weinstein allegedly assaulted Chernyshova at a hotel during the LA Italia Film Festival. He was originally sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The defense had argued on appeal that the trial judge, Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench, improperly limited testimony from Pascal Vicedomini, the head of the film festival. Weinstein’s lawyers contended that evidence of Facebook messages between Chernyshova and Vicedomini, which suggested a sexual relationship, was excluded unlawfully. They claimed that this evidence would have challenged Chernyshova’s assertion that she did not have a relationship with Vicedomini and that she was not in her room during the alleged assault, thereby weakening the prosecution’s case. Prosecutors countered that any such relationship was irrelevant to the case.
Weinstein’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, expressed disappointment with the appellate decision while acknowledging the court’s recognition that the original sentence could not stand. Engelmayer indicated plans to seek review by the California Supreme Court, asserting that significant legal errors affected the trial.
The decision follows closely on the heels of developments in New York, where prosecutors dropped a pending trial involving a separate rape charge after the accuser said she could not endure testifying again. Although Weinstein’s conviction on a different sexual assault charge in New York remains in place, and he is awaiting sentencing in September for that case, the resignation of that charge reflects another complex legal front for the former film executive.
At the Los Angeles trial, Weinstein was acquitted of sexual battery charges involving a massage therapist, and the jury was unable to reach verdicts on counts involving two other women. In her civil lawsuit later filed under her real name, Chernyshova confirmed her consent to be publicly identified.
As Weinstein continues to serve his sentence related to the New York conviction, the California sentencing will be reconsidered only after his New York case proceeds. Requests for comment from Chernyshova’s attorney and Los Angeles prosecutors were not immediately returned.