Latest news with #RapeShieldLaw
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Former Somerset DA Jeff Thomas denied new trial by appeals court
SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — A state appeals court has denied former Somerset County District Attorney Jeff Thomas's attempt for a new trial. A panel of three Pennsylvania Superior Court judges released a 25-page decision, in which they stated they side with the rulings made during Thomas's 2023 trial and conviction, saying they found his list of claims had 'no merit,' according to WTAJ media partners at The Tribune-Democrat. The decision affirms the sentence that was handed to Thomas in August 2023, which was up to seven years in prison on convictions of strangulation, unlawful restraint, criminal respass and indecent assault. Thomas was separately acquitted of sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault by jurors during the trial. The conviction stemmed from an encounter with a Windber woman when Thomas walked into her home in 2021 and, despite being told to stay away, groped and assaulted her before she fled upstairs. Several of the appeals focused on evidence that Thomas argued was improperly excluded from the trial and rulings related to the Rape Shield Law, which protects victims of sex crimes from having details and allegations about their pasts used to discredit them in court, except for certain instances in which that history involves the defendant. Judges wrote that it wasn't the case in Thomas's 2023 case. Thomas attempted to have cellphone messages that the woman sent to another person, in one instance, an article of her clothing, used as evidence, and was overruled by the trial judge. Superior Court Judges Deborah Kunselman, Megan Sullivan and Jill Beck said their review showed the trial court did not abuse its discretion regarding the shield law. In fact, the law exists in Pennsylvania to prevent the type of evidence that Thomas looked to offer, they wrote, saying that evidence would only 'inflame' jurors' minds with details of little relevance to the charges in question. The court also ruled against the argument that the evidence was not sufficient enough to convict him of criminal trespass in relation to the night of the attack, saying that just because Thomas had visited the home before didn't mean he had 'license' to walk in any time he felt like it. 'In this case, (the woman) plainly testified that Thomas was not licensed or privileged to enter her residence on the night in question and that he was aware that he was not welcome in her home,' Beck wrote in the panel's opinion, adding that evidence showed Thomas himself later admitted he was 'not supposed to be there.' The panel also sided with the trial court's rulings on unlawful restraint, noting that the evidence was presented to support Thomas's conviction. Thomas is currently serving his sentence at SCI-Waymart in Wayne County. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Harvey Weinstein appears in court as judge weighs key rulings for his looming #MeToo retrial
Harvey Weinstein 's #MeToo retrial next month will largely be an abridged version of the original, with one big addition: a charge based on an allegation from a woman who wasn't a part of the first case. Just how the reprise of the disgraced movie mogul's prosecution plays out is coming into focus at a hearing Wednesday, where a judge is set to issue rulings on a variety of issues, including the scope of accuser testimony and potential expert witnesses. Weinstein, 72, was in court for the hearing, which started more than a hour late after Judge Curtis Farber met with the prosecution and defense behind closed doors to discuss matters still under seal. Those included a prosecution request that two of the three accusers in the case be allowed to testify about other alleged encounters with Weinstein. They also discussed evidence of the accusers' sexual history, which prosecutors say should be barred under New York 's Rape Shield Law. Weinstein's retrial is scheduled to start April 15 in state court in Manhattan — nearly a year after New York's highest court overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges. At his last court appearance, in January, Weinstein implored Farber to start the retrial sooner. He told the judge 'I don't know how much longer I can hold on' with cancer, heart issues and harsh conditions at New York City's Rikers Island jail complex, where he is locked up. Weinstein arrived to court Wednesday in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and holding a stack of documents. Before his hearing began, the ex-studio boss watched from behind the defense table as Farber spent a few minutes resolving another matter that had been delayed by their closed-door discussions. Weinstein is being retried on charges that he forcibly performed oral sex on a movie and TV production assistant in 2006 and raped an aspiring actor in 2013. The additional charge, filed last September, alleges he forced oral sex on a different woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg 's office said in court papers that the woman, who has not been identified publicly, came forward to prosecutors just days before the start of Weinstein's first trial but was not part of that case. Prosecutors said they did not pursue the women's allegations after Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison, but they revisited them and secured a new indictment after the state's Court of Appeals threw out his conviction last April. Farber ruled in October to combine the new indictment and existing charges into one trial. Weinstein's lawyers contend that prosecutors prejudiced him by waiting nearly five years to bring the additional charge, suggesting they had elected not to include the allegation in his first trial so they could use it later if his conviction were reversed. Weinstein has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone. Last month, Weinstein added Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer who has represented Bill Cosby and R. Kelly, to a legal team that includes defense attorneys Arthur Aidala, Diana Fabi Samson and former judge Barry Kamins. In vacating Weinstein's conviction, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge, James M. Burke, unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case. Burke is no longer on the bench and such testimony won't be part of the retrial. Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape. His 16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, but his lawyers appealed in June, arguing he did not get a fair trial.
