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Supreme Court Justice James Burke in Manhattan
announced his decision at a hearing in a packed courtroom.
Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Weinstein, told reporters outside
the courthouse he was disappointed in the decision but was
confident his client would prevail at trial.
Burke scheduled a pretrial hearing in the case on March 7.
In a written decision released after the hearing, Burke said
there was "no basis for the defendant's claim of prosecutorial
or law enforcement misconduct in the proceedings."
The ruling came about two months after Weinstein won dismissal
of a charge involving a third woman after prosecutors revealed
that a New York City police detective had withheld information
during the investigation, and said they could no longer pursue
the charge.
In his motion to dismiss the remaining counts, Weinstein said
the detective's withholding of information compromised the
integrity of the entire grand jury process that led to the
indictment. Burke, however, wrote that a problem with one charge
did not "infect the integrity" of the other charges, which
concern different women.
Weinstein has also argued that the indictment should be
dismissed because the grand jury had not been shown
communications that he said showed a long-term, consensual
relationship between him and one of the women. Burke said that
while prosecutors must disclose evidence favorable to a
defendant before trial, they do not have to show it to a grand
jury.
Weinstein, who faces a up to life in prison if convicted of the
five charges against him, has denied having nonconsensual sex
with anyone following accusations by more than 70 women, mostly
young actresses and other women employed in the movie business,
of sexual misconduct, including rape, going back decades.
The accusations led to the #MeToo movement in which hundreds of
women have publicly accused powerful men in business, politics
and entertainment of sexual harassment and abuse.
As the accusations against Weinstein mounted, his company
Weinstein Co fired him and filed for bankruptcy, and he was
expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Through his company and another studio, Miramax, Weinstein won
plaudits and awards for movies including "Shakespeare in Love,"
"Pulp Fiction" and "The King's Speech."
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan
Oatis)
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