In today's Los Angeles Times, criminal justice reporter and columnist Anita Chabria reported that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's California convictions for sex crimes will likely stand-- unlike his similar convictions in New York, which were reversed recently by that state's appellate court. The reason: under California law, prior sexual offenses are admissible against a defendant in a sex crimes prosecution. In New York, that is apparently not the case, and because prosecutors there admitted such evidence, the convictions were reversed.
I note this differing standard between New York and California with great personal interest, because the California law that allows for admitting this evidence was written by me 30 years ago when I was a young state legislator.
After a 40-year career in public life, it is gratifying to look back and know that my former colleagues and I occasionally left behind something lasting to help protect our most vulnerable victims. https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2024-04-30/chabria-column-jim-rogan-harvey-weinstein-politics