In a dramatic reversal of the nation’s landmark #MeToo trial, a New York appeals court on Thursday overturned the sex assault conviction of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The state appeals court found, in a 4-3 decision, that the judge who presided over Weinstein’s 2020 trial prejudiced his case by allowing four women who said Weinstein had assaulted them to serve as witnesses even though their allegations were not a part of the case.

The trial judge also made a mistake, the court ruled, in ruling prosecutors could cross-examine Weinstein about uncharged and decades-old allegations if he decided to testify.

“It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them,” Judge Jenny Rivera wrote for the majority.

The predominantly female panel of judges ordered a new trial, arguing that the “synergistic effect of these errors was not harmless.”

“The only evidence against defendant was the complainants’ testimony, and the result of the court’s rulings, on the one hand, was to bolster their credibility and diminish defendant’s character before the jury,” the court added.

Women who accused Weinstein in the past moved swiftly to condemn the decision.

Actress Ashley Judd called the decision “an act of institutional betrayal.” Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the filmmaker and wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said it was “a very sad day for countless women who suffered at the hands of a serial predator.”

Gov. Newsom also weighed in.

“Harvey Weinstein is a stone-cold predator, a rapist, twice convicted. Not once. Twice,” Newsom said Thursday morning during a news conference outside Sacramento.

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