Harvey Weinstein appeals sex-crime conviction: WSJ

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers have reportedly asked a New York appeals court to grant him a new trial.

The Wall Street Journal reports that they say that the Manhattan judge who oversaw his conviction "woefully neglected" the obligation to ensure a fair trial.

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced last March to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault, a sight the Hollywood mogul's multitude of accusers thought they would never see.

Weinstein, who has been accused of violating scores of women, was convicted of raping a woman in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on another woman at his apartment in 2006. He faced a maximum of 29 years in prison.

In a 166-page appeal reported on by the WSJ, Weinstein’s lawyers raised seven points, including that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke shouldn’t have permitted testimony from four women whose sexual allegations hadn’t resulted in criminal charges.

Weinstein still faces another criminal prosecution in California.