Harvey Weinstein cried tears of joy in prison when court overturned his rape conviction

Harvey Weinstein wept ‘tears of joy’ in prison over the news his New York rape and sexual assault convictions had been overturned.

The disgraced movie mogul is delighted that ‘finally somebody listened to him’, spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told DailyMail.com.

‘I just spoke to him two minutes ago. Harvey was crying. He was excited,’ Engelmayer said of her client, who has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 80 women.

‘He was happy that finally somebody listened to him. He is waiting to hear from the attorneys and waiting to hear from the prison system what the next steps are. He’s hopeful and he’s keeping his spirits up.’

Weinstein, 72, was serving 23 years in a New York jail for the two sex attacks. The convictions were spectacularly overturned after an appeals court ruled the judge made a ‘crucial’ error in the initial trial.

A new trial has been ordered and the New York DA’s office has expressed its intent pursue a new conviction. His accusers decried Thursday’s decision as ‘profoundly unjust’.

Weinstein will remain in prison in the meantime due to a separate conviction for rape in Los Angeles from 2022 which saw him handed a 16 year sentence.

‘We’re studying the ramifications of the appeal, but we’re cautiously excited,’ Engelmayer added.

‘But we also know there’s a long road ahead of us given what’s happening in Los Angeles and obviously with the New York District Attorney’s decision to retry. But we’re hopeful on the merits and we’re hopeful on the law.’ 

He added his client was ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the news and feels he has an even stronger chance of overturning in LA.

‘We’ve been fighting to prove his innocence and prove the trial at the very least was a sham.

‘Having a judge that is willing to stand up to the public and say ‘we let him go’, we weren’t as hopeful.

‘He has health issues which he was dealing with before the trial. He’s an older man now. Prison is not the best place to have medical care.’

The New York Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the disgraced movie producer did not receive a fair trial when he was convicted in 2020.

Weinstein, 72, has been serving 23 years in a New York jail for the two sex attacks against aspiring actress Jessica Mann and production assistant Mimi Haleyi. He was handed a further 16 years following his conviction in LA in 2022.

Weinstein became the face of the #MeToo movement after dozens of women came forward alleging sexual abuse. Thursday’s decision was described as ‘profoundly unjust’ by his accusers.

At a press conference, Weinstein’s attorney hailed the verdict as a ‘great day for America’ and a triumph for the justice system.

‘There are some people who are very unpopular in our society, but we still have to apply the law fairly to them, but at this trial the law was not applied fairly to Harvey Weinstein,’ Aidala said.

‘You can’t convict someone based on their entire life. You can’t allow more witnesses to testify than the defendant is actually charged with.’ 

He insisted that his client would be ready for a fresh trail and has been ‘dying’ to tell his side on the stand. However he stated any possible retrial would only involve the criminal sex act trial involving Mimi Haleyi in 2006.

‘The first time there were three women. He was fully acquitted of Anabella Sciorra so that can’t be brought back,’ he said.

‘He was acquitted of the top count against Jessica Mann, there is a lower count of Jessica Mann- I do not believe they’re [DA’s office] is going to go ahead on that. So it’s really only Mimi Haleyi.’

Weinstein did not speak in his own defense at his trial after the judge ruled he could be questioned on years of alleged misconduct if he did.

A fresh hearing has been ordered after it was determined Justice James M. Burke, who presided over Weinstein’s New York City case in 2020, made a ‘crucial’ mistake during the initial trial. 

In a 4-3 decision, the appellant court determined that the Judge Burke had made an error in allowing women to testify who were not part of the case. 

‘It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them,’ the decision read.

‘The news today is not only disheartening, but it’s profoundly unjust,’ a statement from Silence Breakers, the group behind the #MeToo movement said.

‘But this ruling does not diminish the validity of our experiences or our truth; it’s merely a setback. The man found guilty continues to serve time in a California prison.

‘We continue to stand strong and advocate for that change. We will continue to fight for justice for survivors everywhere.’

Actress Ashley Judd, one of the first to publicly accuse Weinstein, shared her disappointment with the ruling.

 ‘That’s really hard for the survivors … We still live in our truth. And we know what happened,’ she told the New York Times.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg vowed to do ‘everything in our power’ to retry the case, adding his office, ‘remains steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault.’

If his second appeal against his Los Angeles is successful, the shamed film boss could walker free. 

Weinstein was jailed in New York for the two attacks in 2006 and 2013. Online prison records on Thursday show him as still incarcerated at the Mohawk correctional facility. It is unclear if he will now be transferred a facility to California.

A spokesman for the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision told the New York Times the agency is ‘reviewing the court decision’.

Weinstein’s attorneys believe he will be moved from prison within a week to a medical facility closer to his family in New York City. 

He was convicted of third degree rape against Mann and criminal sexual act against Haleyi, but acquitted of first degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault.

The court heard Mann was attacked by Weinstein in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.

Haleyi testified that he forcibly performed oral sex on her in his apartment while she had her period in 2006.

The predatory sexual assault charge, which was the most serious, incorporated Sopranos actress Anabella Sciorra’s allegation that she was raped by Weinstein in her Manhattan apartment in the mid-1990s. 

Sciorra’s allegation was too old to be charged on its own because of the statute of limitations, but jurors had to consider it as a basis for charges alleging Weinstein is a sexual predator. 

In total, six women took to the stand to give harrowing accounts of alleged abuse.

Costume designer Dawn Dunning, model Tarale Wulff and actress Lauren Marie Young were among those who testified they were enticed into meeting Weinstein for professional reasons and then groped or raped.

Weinstein was given an additional 16 years sentence in Los Angeles following conviction for a rape which took place in 2013.

The victim was attacked by the shamed Miramax boss at a hotel room after a film festival, but only came forward after #MeToo opened the floodgates against him. 

Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges against Mann who alleged he also raped her in California.

Weinstein’s lawyers argued Judge James Burke’s rulings in favor of the prosecution turned the trial into ‘1-800-GET-HARVEY.

But Wigdor Law, which represented eight of Weinstein’s accusers including two connected to the New York trial, blasted the appeal court’s ruling.

‘Today’s decision is a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence. 

‘Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts where they assist juries in understanding issues concerning the intent, modus operandi or scheme of the defendant. 

‘The jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony and overturning the verdict is tragic in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial.’ 

The ruling was handed down by Judge Jenny Rivera, with Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson and Judges Betsy Barros and Christine Clark concurring.

Judges Madeline Singas, Michael Garcia and Anthony Cannataro dissented, while Judges Shirley Troutman and Caitlin Halligan took no part.

In a scathing dissent, Judge Singas accused the majority judges of ‘whitewashing the facts to conform to a he-said/she-said narrative’.

‘The majority’s determination perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability,’ Singas said.

The reversal of his conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in the last two years, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Pennsylvania court decision to throw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

 Weinstein’s conviction stood for more than four years, heralded by activists and advocates as a milestone achievement, but dissected just as quickly by his lawyers and, later, the Court of Appeals when it heard arguments on the matter in February.

New York State of Appeals Chief Judge Janet DiFiore ruled that Weinstein’s appeal could proceed in 2022.

At the time, Aidala argued that women who did not form part of the criminal allegations should not have been allowed to take the stand and testify about alleged sex abuse by his client.

He also alleged that one juror did not disclose they’d previously written a book on sexual predators, which he said should have disqualified them from serving. 

Weinstein denied the charges against him and insisted that his relations with the women were consensual.

More than 80 women came forward to accuse the Oscar-winning producer of sexual assault and harassment. 

The allegations first surfaced publicly in a New York Times story in 2017 detailing decades of alleged abuse.

Actresses Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd were among those who were named in the piece as accusers. 

The allegations sparked a sea change in attitudes towards sexual misconduct in the workplace.

While Thursday´s ruling was a blow to #MeToo advocates, they noted it was based on legal technicalities and not an exoneration of Weinstein’s behavior, saying the original trial irrevocably moved the cultural needle on attitudes about sexual assault.