"New York Senate passes bill to tighten legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to toss rape conviction"

From AP, via NACDL's news update:

The New York state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to explicitly allow evidence of prior sexual offenses in sex crimes cases, a move to change the legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to overturn his rape conviction.

The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 55-4. The proposal now moves to the state Assembly.

Lawmakers began pushing the measure weeks after the state’s high court tossed Weinstein’s conviction in a ruling that found a trial judge unfairly allowed women to testify about assault allegations that weren’t part of the criminal charges against Weinstein.