MOLINEUX MEETS #METOO:EVALUATING THE MEDIA’S COVERAGE OF PEOPLE V. WEINSTEIN AND THE NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALS
by Sarah Midani (Albany Law School, Class of 2025; Editor-in-Chief, Albany LawReview)
As Ms. Midani writes, the New York high court's decision to overturn Harvey Weinstein's conviction
garnered mixed reactions from advocates against sexual violence, including those behind the #MeToo movement. Weinstein’s conviction is widely regarded as a #MeToo launching point, and the movement has highlighted the stark reality of sexual violence that many people endure. The trial court’s evidentiary rulings, with which the Court of Appeals’s majority took great issue, affected what kinds of testimony the jury was allowed to hear.
The trial judge allowed three women—who were not complainants in the original action—to testify about their own past experiences with Weinstein. All three said he sexually harassed and/or assaulted them. The problem, according to the Court of Appeals, was that those alleged incidents were not part of Weinstein’s charges. As such, the testimony triggered a New York evidentiary principle known as the Molineux rule. Under that rule, which is named after a 1901 Court of Appeals decision, the at-issue evidence would “not [be] admissible if it cannot logically be connected to some specific material issue in the case, and tends only to demonstrate the defendant’s propensity to commit the crime charged"....
[T]he Court defended its analysis as “grounded on bedrock principles of evidence and the defendant’s constitutional right to the presumption of innocence and a fair trial.”
The article, to be published as 87 Albany Law Review 647 (2024), is accessible at:
https://www.albanylawreview.org/article/123137-molineux-meets-metoo-evaluating-the-media-s-coverage-of-people-v-weinstein-and-the-new-york-court-of-appeals
https://www.albanylawreview.org/article/123137-molineux-meets-metoo-evaluating-the-media-s-coverage-of-people-v-weinstein-and-the-new-york-court-of-appeals
