UK court drops indecent assault charges against Harvey Weinstein
The Crown Prosecution Service in the UK has announced that it will be dropping the current criminal charges they have against Harvey Weinstein. The CPS confirmed that they are no longer pursuing the case as there is not “a realistic prospect of conviction”.
Weinstein was initially charged with indecent assault in 2022 for an incident that is said to have occurred in 1996. The woman, who is now reportedly in her 50s according to the Metropolitan Police, came forward with the case that the CPS were happy to run with. After two years of investigation and further review of the charges, the CPS decided they did not believe their case would be successful.
“Following a review of the evidence in this case, the CPS has decided to discontinue criminal proceedings against Harvey Weinstein,” confirmed Frank Ferguson, the head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division. “The CPS has a duty to keep all cases under continuous review and we have decided that there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction,” he added.
Ferguson wanted to confirm that people should still always come forward with cases involving sexual assault, even though a lot of the time, the police are unable to formulate a substantive claim. “We have explained our decision to all parties,” he said, “We would always encourage any potential victims of sexual assault to come forward and report to police, and we will prosecute wherever our legal test is met”.
The history of the MeToo movement
This allegation was just one in a plethora that Weinstein has been met with in recent years. In 2017, the New York Times published a story detailing decades of different incidents involving many women. Actors Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd were two women who came out to speak against Weinstein. Amongst these allegations are claims that Weinstein asked women to massage him and watch him naked in exchange for advancing their careers.
Denying the allegations, Weinstein issued an apology where he said he “has caused a lot of pain” and announced that he would be taking a “leave of absence”. After this initial report came through, a lot of other women came forward saying that Weinstein had also acted inappropriately towards them, too.
Weinstein initially went on trial in January 2020 in New York, where he was found guilty of one count of committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree and one count of rape in the third degree. The disgraced producer was then sentenced to 23 years in prison. Weinstein was also found guilty of a separate count of rape by a Los Angeles jury in 2022.
Weinstein’s initial guilty verdict from New York in 2020 was overturned in 2024. The fraught legal battles which have been ongoing for years highlight the complexity bringing cases of this nature to fruition.
This remains a developing story. Whether the CPS will attempt to gather more evidence to re-open their case remains to be seen.
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