A court in New York has overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, saying the Hollywood ex-movie producer did not receive a fair trial.

In a 4-3 decision on Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the 72-year-old’s appeal, concluding that the trial “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.”

The former film producer had been sentenced to 23 years in prison. He will remain in jail in New York as a result of a separate conviction for rape from a court in Los Angeles.

Allegations against Weinstein were first published by the New York Times and the New Yorker magazine in 2017, with more than 80 women accusing him of sexual assault.

The Weinstein case was a major catalyst for the feminist #MeToo movement.

The 2020 trial centred on two allegations. Weinstein allegedly forced production assistant Mimi Haleyi to perform oral sex on him in 2006 and was accused of raping Jessica Mann, now a hairdresser, in 2013.

The prosecution relied on several additional witnesses who accused Weinstein of sexual assault to show that his offences followed a recurring pattern.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must now decide whether to initiate a new trial against Weinstein. 

(dpa/NAN)