A state appeals court on Friday upheld Harvey Weinstein's 2022 rape conviction in California but ordered the former Hollywood producer to be resentenced. The three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the guilty verdicts while vacating the 16-year prison sentence imposed in February 2023. Weinstein, 74, was convicted of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault against an Italian model and actor identified during the trial as Jane Doe 1, later revealed as Evgeniya Chernyshova.
Weinstein’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, expressed disappointment with the decision but acknowledged the court’s ruling on resentencing. "We are disappointed by today’s decision and respectfully disagree with the Court of Appeal’s conclusions regarding the fairness of Mr. Weinstein’s trial. At the same time, the court correctly recognized that his sentence cannot stand," Engelmayer said in an email.
The court ruled that resentencing was necessary because the trial judge had considered Weinstein’s overturned New York convictions as an aggravating factor, a decision California’s attorney general agreed with. Weinstein remains behind bars, awaiting a September sentencing in New York on a separate sexual assault conviction, where prosecutors are seeking a 20-year term. The New York case had been unresolved after an overturned conviction and two hung juries, and prosecutors recently decided not to pursue a fourth trial after the accuser declined to testify again.
Weinstein’s legal team had argued in the appeal that the trial judge improperly limited testimony from the head of a film festival, seeking a new trial. The appeals court rejected these arguments, stating, "We reject his attempts to disturb the jury’s guilty verdicts."
More than 100 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, sparking the #MeToo movement in 2017. He has been incarcerated since 2020.