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Harvey Weinstein (2020)
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Mark Lennihan / dpa
Harvey Weinstein may appeal his 2020 sex crimes conviction
An appeals court in New York granted permission for this step, as several US media reported unanimously.
"We are hopeful and grateful for this rare opportunity," Weinstein's spokesman Juda Engelmayer said in a statement on Wednesday, which was also quoted by the dpa news agency.
In the earlier trial and in the conviction, a lot was wrong, Engelmayer went on to say.
Weinstein, 70, insisted his innocence in the statement and thanked his lawyers: "Your hard work will help me to prove my innocence in the end."
Weinstein's lawyers said the former Hollywood mogul didn't receive a fair trial.
They justified their accusation, among other things, with an allegedly partisan juror and the alleged bias of judge James Burke.
Clear the way for oral negotiations
The lawyers initially failed in June with an appeal before a lower instance at the New York Court of Appeals.
Now a higher authority has complied with their request to be able to appeal the verdict.
This decision clears the way for oral hearings in the coming year, a court spokesman told NBC.
Weinstein, once one of the most important film producers in the USA, was sentenced to 23 years in prison in March 2020 for rape and sexual assault.
The conviction marked a milestone in legal history.
In the sensational case that helped spark the #MeToo movement, the jury believed the testimonies of several women.
Weinstein is currently being held in a Los Angeles jail awaiting trial in California.
He is accused of, among other things, raping an Italian model in a Beverly Hills hotel in February 2013 and then sexually assaulting Lauren Young, a budding actress, in the bathroom of another hotel.
Five women allege abuse.
Weinstein denies the crime and pleads not guilty.
A total of around 90 women, including well-known actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Gwyneth Paltrow, have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or violence.
wit/dpa