Last Updated on 05/09/2024 by Arun jain
British prosecutors have dropped their case against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, just two years after they authorized it. Indecent assault charges in front of him.
In a statement on ThursdayThe Crown Prosecution Service said, “following a review of the evidence,” it had decided to stay the prosecution of Mr Weinstein.
Frank Ferguson, head of the service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said in a statement that “there is now no realistic prospect of a conviction.”
“We have explained our decision to all parties,” he added.
On Thursday, a spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said in an email that the service would not provide further details of the reasoning behind the decision.
The case dates back to 2022, when British prosecutors authorized two charges against Mr. Weinstein of sexually assaulting a woman in London in 1996. Under British law, it is illegal to identify potential victims of sexual assault even after prosecutors drop the case.
At the height of his powers, Mr. Weinstein, now 72, was one of the world’s most important movie producers, widely seen as capable of making or breaking an actor’s career.
In 2017, his career then went into free fall The New York Times reported That he paid off women who accused him of sexual assault, over the course of nearly three decades. As a result of the story, prosecutors filed cases against him in both Britain and the United States.
Last year, there was Mr. Weinstein 16 years imprisonment After being convicted of rape and sexual assault in California.
In April, the New York Supreme Court Overturn Mr. Weinstein’s 2020 felony sex crimes convictionRuling that the original judge had deprived him of a fair trial. The court said the original judge should not have allowed prosecutors to call witnesses who said Mr. Weinstein assaulted them when their allegations were not part of the case.
In May, Manhattan prosecutors announced that they would try again Mr. Weinstein faces sex crime charges and is currently in the Rikers Island jail complex awaiting trial.
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