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Mariska Hargitay Calls Harvey Weinstein Conviction Reversal "Infuriating"
The Law & Order: SVU star and advocate called the decision an “incorrigible miscarriage of justice."
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star and activist Mariska Hargitay released a statement on Harvey Weinstein's recently-overturned rape conviction, calling the decision "infuriating."
NBC News reports that on Thursday, April 25, the New York state Court of Appeals voted to overturn Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction in a 4-3 decision, ruling that the judge in the case had "erroneously" allowed victims of Weinstein to testify whose assaults were not part of the case being tried. Per NBC News, New York Judge Madeline Singas expressed in a dissenting opinion that the majority were "failing to recognize that the jury was allowed to consider Weinstein’s past assaults."
This opens the way for a new trial against the disgraced mogul, which the Manhattan's DA office has indicated that it will pursue and “will do everything in our power to retry this case and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” NBC News reports.
Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence for his New York conviction; however, he will remain imprisoned to complete his 16-year sentence following his 2022 rape conviction in California.
In a statement, accuser Dawn Dunning said of the decision, “While I’m stunned that the court threw out Weinstein’s conviction on legal technicalities, I am still proud that I testified and confronted that convicted rapist."
An attorney for another accuser, Alexandra Canosa, said, “Today’s decision by the New York State Court of Appeals is very disappointing. Weinstein is a serial sexual predator and has been found guilty of being one by juries in two separate states."
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Mariska Hargitay issues statement following Harvey Weinstein's overturned conviction
Hargitay wrote in an Instagram post that the court's decision was a “painful and infuriating affront to survivors and advocates everywhere." She called it an "incorrigible miscarriage of justice" and offered to all survivors of sexual violence, “My heart is with you today, tomorrow, and forever.”
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Hargitay's work playing a sex-crime-fighting detective on SVU led her to find a passion for justice off-screen: She started the Joyful Heart Foundation to help survivors of assault and domestic violence and to help end the backlog of untested rape kits in America.
