By Jonathan Stempel and Karen Freifeld
NEW&nbsp;YORK (Reuters) - The disgraced Hollywood movie producer&nbsp;Harvey&nbsp;Weinstein&nbsp;on Tuesday asked&nbsp;New&nbsp;York's&nbsp;highest&nbsp;court&nbsp;to overturn his&nbsp;2020&nbsp;rape&nbsp;and sexual assault&nbsp;conviction, saying the Manhattan trial judge succumbed to inertia created by the #MeToo movement.
In a filing with the state&nbsp;Court&nbsp;of Appeals, lawyers for&nbsp;Weinstein&nbsp;accused trial judge James Burke of caving to "the pressure of an influential social movement determined to punish centuries of male misbehavior by setting an example in convicting one man,&nbsp;Harvey&nbsp;Weinstein."
The lawyers said a series of errors by the judge, including letting four women testify about alleged conduct for which&nbsp;Weinstein&nbsp;was not charged, undermined the presumption their client was innocent.
They want the&nbsp;Court&nbsp;of Appeals to reverse his&nbsp;convictions and 23-year prison sentence, dismiss the&nbsp;rape&nbsp;charge because it was brought too late and order a&nbsp;new&nbsp;trial on a single count of criminal sexual act.
"A defendant cannot be tried based on his character -- but must be tried based on the conduct for which he has been accused,"&nbsp;Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala said in a statement.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose predecessor Cyrus Vance brought the Manhattan case, is expected to respond to&nbsp;Weinstein's brief.
Weinstein&nbsp;has denied having non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone.
He is also awaiting sentencing, including a possible 18-year prison term, in Los Angeles after a jury there convicted him last month of raping and sexually assaulting a former model and actress in a hotel.
Jurors in Manhattan convicted&nbsp;Weinstein&nbsp;in February&nbsp;2020&nbsp;of sexually assaulting a former production assistant in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in 2013.
That verdict was considered a milestone for #MeToo, where women have accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein&nbsp;co-founded the Miramax film studio, whose hit movies included "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." His own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.
A mid-level state appeals&nbsp;court&nbsp;unanimously upheld&nbsp;Weinstein's Manhattan&nbsp;conviction&nbsp;in June.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Karen Freifeld in&nbsp;New&nbsp;York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Harvey Weinstein asks New York's top court to toss 2020 rape conviction