Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers argue he was denied a fair trial in his appeal against LA rape conviction: reports

The appeal comes six weeks after Weinstein’s convictions in New York were overturned in 2020.

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers are reportedly arguing that he did not receive a fair trial when he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in February 2023 after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles.

According to multiple media outlets, including Associated Press, CNN and NBC News, lawyers for Weinstein, 72, filed an appeal and requested a retrial with California’s Second District Court of Appeals on Friday, June 7. The move comes less than two months after the disgraced media mogul’s two 2020 convictions in New York state for rape and sexual assault were overturned.

Weinstein was found guilty of first-degree sexual abuse and third-degree rape in a New York court in February 2020. Three years later, he was sentenced to another 16 years in prison after another guilty verdict in a Los Angeles court.

Now, according to AP, Weinstein’s lawyers are calling the conviction in LA a “miscarriage of justice” and claiming the judge denied him “his constitutional right to defense.”

Neither a spokesperson for Weinstein nor a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday.

Related: Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape and sexual assault convictions overturned in New York

The conviction involved a woman previously identified as Jane Doe #1, who claimed Weinstein “raped her for over an hour” while she was in town for the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival in 2013, according to NBC News.

Weinstein was acquitted at the time of sexual assault charges related to a second unknown assailant, and the jury was unable to reach a consensus on charges related to a third unknown assailant and Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

The new appeal claims that the judge excluded evidence that the person Weinstein was convicted of raping allegedly had a relationship with the director of a film festival that brought them both to Los Angeles at the time. Weinstein is now demanding a retrial, according to NBC News.

“Harvey Weinstein was brought to justice by a system that was bent on ‘getting’ him at any cost. This appeal highlights nearly a dozen areas of glaring legal missteps that violated his right to a fair trial,” Weinstein’s spokeswoman Juda Engelmayer told NBC News. “We know he has a solid case here.”

Weinstein’s lawyers argue in the new appeal that “the jury was misled about the truthfulness (of Jane Doe 1) and was prevented from considering crucial evidence that pointed to the defendant’s innocence and contradicted the prosecution’s theory of guilt,” according to NBC News.

Dave Ring, an attorney for Jane Doe #1, told AP and CNN on Friday: “Weinstein’s appeal contains the same hackneyed arguments that he has made unsuccessfully before the court several times before.”

“We firmly believe that the court has properly reviewed the evidence and made all the correct decisions in its evidentiary rulings,” he continued. “We are confident that Weinstein’s appeal will be denied and he will spend many years in prison.”

Ring did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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Weinstein’s crimes first came to light at the height of the #MeToo movement, when victims of sexual assault began sharing their experiences on social media. During this time, several celebrities spoke out about Weinstein, including Lupita Nyong’o. Ryan Gosling and Salma Hayek. According to USA Today, 87 people have accused Weinstein of inappropriate behavior and/or assault.

In April, Rose McGowan shared her thoughts following the overturning of Weinstein’s New York convictions – in an Instagram reel, she said she was “proud of how far we’ve come” and offered encouragement to those “out there fighting the good fight.” The 50-year-old actress first accused Weinstein of rape in October 2017.

“No matter what they throw at us, they cannot take away who we are, what we know, what we have been through and what we can achieve in this life,” the Jawbreaker Stern. “We are not victims. We are people who have been hurt by evil. And evil sticks together, as we can observe and prove today, but we are better.”

“To all of you out there fighting the good fight against this evil, these beings, these dark beings: you are light. You are beautiful. You are important. I am with you,” she concluded.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to Rainn.org.

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