Harvey Weinstein's First Accuser Ashley Judd Slams Court's Decision to Overturn Disgraced Producer's 2020 Conviction: 'We Know What Happened'
Harvey Weinstein’s first sexual harassment accuser, actress Ashley Judd, shook her head at a New York appeals court this week after the court decided to overturn the disgraced movie producer’s 2020 rape conviction, RadarOnline.com can report.
In a shocking development to come after the highest appeals court in New York ruled 4-3 that Weinstein’s 2020 conviction would be overturned, Judd responded with a short statement.
“That’s really hard for the survivors,” Judd said in a statement to the New York Times shortly after the decision was announced on Thursday morning.
“We still live in our truth,” the actress added. “And we know what happened.”
As RadarOnline.com previously noted, Judd was one of the first actresses to come forward back in 2017 and accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment.
Judd later sued Weinstein in April 2018 and alleged that the movie producer lured her into his hotel room where he asked her to watch him shower and tried to give her a massage during the 1997 incident.
The actress also sued Weinstein for defamation and retaliation. She claimed that Weinstein “blackballed” her in the film industry after she rejected his alleged advances.
Meanwhile, several additional women came forward shortly after Judd made her allegations against Weinstein public. The avalanche of subsequent sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein essentially kicked off the #MeToo movement.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Judd’s response on Thursday morning came moments after the top appellate court in New York announced the reversal of Weinstein’s 2020 conviction.
Weinstein was accused of “forcibly performing oral sex” on an assistant in 2006, as well as rape in the third degree for an attack on an actress in 2013, during his 2020 New York trial.
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The 72-year-old disgraced movie producer was ultimately found guilty of the felony sex crimes and sentenced to 23 years in state prison.
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The New York appeals court announced their decision to overturn the conviction on Thursday morning.
“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,” the court said in its 4-3 decision. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.”
“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 court added.
Weinstein's lawyer later celebrated the court's decision to overturn the disgraced movie producer's 2020 conviction in New York.
“We all worked very hard and this is a tremendous victory for every criminal defendant in the state of New York," Arthur Aidala said shortly after the new bombshell ruling was announced.
It should be noted that Weinstein will remain in prison due to a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles back in 2022.