Weinstein Accuser Slams Rape Conviction Being Overturned: ‘On-Going Failure of the Justice System’
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez via Instagram
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 2015, slammed the justice system in response to his sex crimes conviction being overturned by the New York Court of Appeals on Thursday.
“If the DA had taken my case seriously in 2015, we wouldn’t be here,” Gutierrez told Mediaite in response to the news. “This is an on-going failure of the justice system – and the courts – to take survivors seriously and to protect our interests.”
In 2015, when Gutierrez was a 22-year-old model, she met the then-powerful movie mogul at an event in Manhattan. Weinstein asked for a meeting at his Tribeca office, during which he asked if her breasts were real and proceeded to grope her chest. She was able to escape the office and immediately reported the incident to the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Division. Gutierrez then worked with the NYPD on a sting operation by wearing a wire and recording her next interaction with him. She caught Weinstein on tape admitting that he groped her.
Despite the apparent success of the sting operation, the D.A. never filed charges, saying in a statement at the time that, “after analyzing the available evidence, including multiple interviews with both parties, the criminal charge is not supported.”
Gutierrez called the decision to not press charges “fishy” and asked: “How can someone not be prosecuted and then put in jail years after?”
To her dismay, Gutierrez was not asked to testify in Weinstein’s New York trial. She told Mediaite that despite having recorded evidence to support her claims, she was never asked to take the stand, for reasons she does not know to this day.
“I [have] wanted him in jail since 2015,” she said. “I would have done anything. I care about justice.”
She laid the failure at the feet of Cy Vance, the former New York District Attorney who was succeeded by Alvin Bragg.
“DA Bragg ran for office in 2021 because his predecessor failed so many of us,” she said. “We expect him to pursue Weinstein now. New York lawmakers can also do right by survivors by making the Adult Survivors Act permanent, so that survivors can at least seek justice in the civil system when the criminal courts fail us.”
Despite his conviction being overturned in New York, Weinstein will remain in prison thanks to his conviction in Los Angeles. Gutierrez testified at that trial in November 2022, which ended with the disgraced movie mogul being found guilty of rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Douglas H. Wigdor, who represented eight Weinstein accusers, issued a statement on the conviction being overturned: “Today’s decision is a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence. Courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts where they assist juries in understanding issues concerning the modus operandi or scheme of the defendant. The jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony and overturning the verdict is tragic in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial.”
