New Trial For Harvey Weinstein; Dissent: “New York’s Women Deserve Better”
The New York Court of Appeals has granted Harvey Weinstein a new trial
Every person accused of a crime is constitutionally presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial and the opportunity to present a defense (see U.S. Const Amend VI, XIV; NY Const art I, § 6; Estelle v Williams, 425 US 501, 503 [1976] [“The right to a fair trial is a fundamental liberty secured by the Fourteenth Amendment” and “(t)he presumption of innocence, although not articulated in the Constitution, is a basic component of a fair trial under our system of criminal justice”]; Crane v Kentucky, 476 US 683, 690 [1985] [“Whether rooted directly in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . . . or in the Compulsory Process or Confrontation clauses of the Sixth Amendment . . . the Constitution guarantees criminal defendants ‘a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense’ ”], quoting California v Trombetta, 467 US 479, 485 [1984]).
Under our system of justice, the accused has a right to be held to account only for the crime charged and, thus, allegations of prior bad acts may not be admitted against them for the sole purpose of establishing their propensity for criminality (see People v Molineux, 168 NY 264 [1901]). Nor may the prosecution use “prior convictions or proof of the prior commission of specific, criminal, vicious or immoral acts” other than to impeach the accused’s credibility (People v Sandoval, 34 NY2d 371, 374 [1974]). It is our solemn duty to diligently guard these rights regardless of the crime charged, the reputation of the accused, or the pressure to convict (see Boyd v United States, 116 US 616, 635 [1886] [“It is the duty of courts to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stealthy encroachments thereon”]).
Defendant was convicted by a jury for various sexual crimes against three named complainants and, on appeal, claims that he was judged, not on the conduct for which he was indicted, but on irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior bad acts. We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes because that testimony served no material non-propensity purpose. The court compounded that error when it ruled that defendant, who had no criminal history, could be cross examined about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light. The synergistic effect of these errors was not harmless. The only evidence against defendant was the complainants’ testimony, and the result of the court’s rulings, on the one hand, was to bolster their credibility and diminish defendant’s character before the jury. On the other hand, the threat of a cross examination highlighting these untested allegations undermined defendant’s right to testify. The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.
However, we reject defendant’s claim that the third-degree rape prosecution was untimely under CPL 30.10 because, as a New York resident, his brief absences from the State before the authorities were aware of the crime did not toll the limitations period. Defendant’s argument finds no support in the statutory text. Therefore, the trial court properly discounted the days defendant was continuously outside the state and correctly held that the prosecution was not time-barred. Defendant may be retried on this count.
SINGAS, J. (dissenting):
Fundamental misunderstandings of sexual violence perpetrated by men known to, and with significant power over, the women they victimize are on full display in the majority’s opinion. By whitewashing the facts to conform to a hesaid/she-said narrative, by ignoring evidence of defendant’s manipulation and premeditation, which clouded issues of intent, and by failing to recognize that the jury was entitled to consider defendant’s previous assaults, this Court has continued a disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence. The Molineux rule—created by this Court—has never been static. Instead, its use has evolved over time to meet the challenges of complex criminal prosecutions. Unfortunately, in the context of sexual assault, that evolution lapses today with a decision that has all but ended the use of Molineux evidence in such cases. I fully join Judge Cannataro’s dissent but write separately to highlight how the majority’s determination perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability.
The overarching issue presented by this case is whether the trial court properly admitted evidence of defendant’s prior sexual assaults. Whether such Molineux evidence—i.e., evidence of a defendant’s prior crimes and other bad acts—is admissible is guided by a two-step analysis. First, a court must consider whether the evidence is relevant to a material issue other than defendant’s criminal propensity (e.g., intent). If the evidence is relevant for an appropriate purpose, the court must then determine whether it should be excluded for other reasons, such as its lack of probative value or risk of undue prejudice (see People v Denson, 26 NY3d 179, 185-186 [2015]). Remarkably, the majority holds that the proffered evidence fails at “Step 1,” concluding that evidence of defendant’s past sexual assaults was irrelevant to this case (majority op at 22). The majority does not hold, under “Step 2,” that this evidence was too overwhelming, too dissimilar from the charged crimes, too remote in time, or too prejudicial. Rather, it concludes that additional evidence of defendant’s intent is not relevant to the issues the jury needed to decide, as a matter of law, because no rational person could accept the victims’ testimony recounting the violence committed against them and have any lingering doubts as to defendant’s state of mind.
While the majority’s holding may, at first glance, appear to endorse a utopic vision of sexual assault prosecution in which a victim’s word is paramount, the reality is far bleaker. Critically missing from the majority’s analysis is any awareness that sexual assault cases are not monolithic and that the issue of consent has historically been a complicated one, subject to vigorous debate, study, and ever-evolving legal standards (see People v Regan, 39 NY3d 459, 475-482 [2023, Singas, J., dissenting]). By ignoring the legal and practical realities of proving a lack of consent, the majority has crafted a naïve narrative: that within the most fraught and intimate settings, intent is readily apparent, and issues of consent easily ascertained. This conclusion deprives juries of the context necessary to do their work, forecloses the prosecution from using an essential tool to prove intent, ignores the nuances of how sexual violence is perpetrated and perceived, and demonstrates the majority’s utter lack of understanding of the dynamics of sexual assault. Because New York’s women deserve better, I dissent.
CANNATARO, J. (dissenting):
The adjudication of sex crimes occupies a challenging space in the evolution of American criminal law. Rooted in centuries of deeply patriarchal and misogynistic legal tradition, progress toward a more enlightened and evidence-based approach to the prosecution of rape and related crimes perpetrated predominantly against women has been both challenging and sporadic, with most meaningful progress achieved only over the past 50 years (see People v Regan, 39 NY3d 459, 475-482 [2023] [Singas, J. dissenting]). Today’s majority decision represents an unfortunate step backwards from recent advances in our understanding of how sex crimes are perpetrated and why victims sometimes respond in seemingly counterintuitive ways, endangering decades of progress in this incredibly complex and nuanced area of law. I must therefore dissent.
The privilege of the rich, powerful and well-connected appears to be alive and well in New York.
I expect an avalance of well-deserved critical commentary about this decision. (Mike Frisch)