Part of the Sexual Assault Case Against Harvey Weinstein Has Been Dropped
The sexual assault case developing in Manhattan court against Harvey Weinstein stems from incidents involving three women among the many who have alleged over the course of the last year that the former head of Miramax and the Weinstein Company mistreated, harassed, or abused them. But today, New York City prosecutors dropped one of the charges against Weinstein, after they found evidence — a “written account” from a fact-checker for The New Yorker — that contradicted previous statements about the encounter between Weinstein and one of those three main women in the case.
ABC News reports that while that specific charge has been dropped, the rest of the case against Weinstein will continue:
Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon told the court she would drop count six of the indictment, which involves Lucia Evans ... Prosecutors disclosed in a sealed Sept. 12 letter to the defense that they discovered a previous written account from Evans that suggested the encounter was consensual.
Evans’ lawyer said in a statement that “the decision to throw away my client's sexual assault charges says nothing about Weinstein's guilt or innocence. Nor does it reflect on Lucia's consistent allegation that she was sexually assaulted with force by Harvey Weinstein. It only speaks volumes about the Manhattan DA's office and its mishandling of my client's case." Weinstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, countered that the case against his client was “permanently and irreparably damaged.”
Weinstein’s attorney also said they plan to subpoena The New Yorker along with police interviews, claiming “an NYPD detective ‘may have unfairly tainted these proceedings’ when he prepared Evans for her testimony.” Weinstein pled not guilty on all the charges; if he’s convicted, he could go to prison for the rest of his life.