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HARVEY WEINSTEIN’S CRIMINAL SEXUAL ACT AND RAPE CONVICTIONS AFFIRMED (FIRST DEPT).

The Frist Department, affirming Harvey Weinstein’s criminal sexual act and rape convictions, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Mazzarelli, determined the expert testimony about rape trauma was admissible, the Molineux evidence was properly admitted on the issue of intent, and the Sandoval ruling was proper. The opinion is fact-specific and much too detailed to fully summarize here:

… [W]e find that the trial court properly permitted Dr. Ziv to testify. … [D]efendant has presented us with no authority suggesting that rape trauma syndrome has been discredited as a scientific phenomenon … . And because the syndrome is shrouded by certain rape “myths,” we can think of no more appropriate area where a jury requires the elucidation that can be facilitated by an expert witness. In other words, where there was a risk that the jury would be “puzzled” by some of the behaviors of the complainants during and after their sexual encounters with defendant, it was appropriate to admit “evidence of psychological syndromes” that would eliminate that confusion … . After all, defendant made clear that his defense would be based on those behaviors, which he would argue to the jury were inconsistent with how a victim of sexual assault would behave. * * *

From the People’s perspective, there was a significant risk that the jury would have concluded that defendant did not intend to compel the women to have sex with him. By introducing the Molineux evidence, the People were able to counter defendant’s narrative, by showing that the offenses against Haley and Mann were simply more elaborate manifestations of his practice of baiting women with opportunities for career advancement, and then taking advantage, all the while being completely uninterested in whether the women welcomed his advances, and being determined to go forward whether or not they did. Of course, the People could have attempted to prove defendant’s guilt merely by relying on the testimony of Haley, Mann and Sciorra, but that is an insufficient reason to preclude Molineux evidence … . * * *

The amount of Sandoval material is unquestionably large, and, at first blush, perhaps appears to be troublingly so. Nevertheless, in considering the propriety of whether to admit Sandoval material, and how much, the Court of Appeals has plainly stated that “the determination rests largely within the reviewable discretion of the trial court, to be exercised in light of the facts and circumstances of the particular case before it” (People v Hayes, 97 NY2d 203, 208 [2002]). While we acknowledge the sheer size of the impeachment material that the court allowed, we have analyzed that decision within the larger context of all of the circumstances presented by this case, and have concluded that the court providently exercised its discretion…. . People v Weinstein, 2022 NY Slip Op 03576, First Dept 6-2-22

Practice Point: The First Department found that the expert testimony about rape trauma syndrome, the extensive Molineux evidence, and the extensive Sandoval evidence were properly admitted in the Harvey Weinstein trial.

 

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