Harvey Weinstein due in NY court as prosecutors seek second rape trial

[July 19, 2024]  By Jack Queen

(Reuters) - Harvey Weinstein is due in Manhattan court on Friday as prosecutors prepare to retry the former movie mogul following the reversal of his 2020 rape conviction.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office revealed in court last week that they intend to charge Weinstein for “additional violent sexual assaults” after more women agreed to testify against the Miramax studio co-founder.

The new accusers have not been publicly identified, and prosecutors are seeking to shield certain evidence from public view while they prepare to seek a new grand jury indictment.

Judge Curtis Farber is set to update the parties on Friday about his efforts to find a court-appointed hearing officer to referee disputes over what evidence Weinstein’s legal team is entitled to see.

Weinstein, 72, has denied wrongdoing and has denied having any non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone. Jurors in Manhattan found him guilty on rape charges in February 2020, but the New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction in April, finding Weinstein did not get a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony by accusers he was not formally charged with assaulting.

Weinstein’s conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.

A jury found the 72-year-old Miramax film studio co-founder sexually assaulted former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
 

Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in State Supreme court in Manhattan for a status conference on his case on Tuesday in New York City, U.S., July 9, 2024. Jefferson Siegel/Pool via REUTERS

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison, but the New York Court of Appeals in April found the conviction could not stand because the judge overseeing the trial made a critical mistake by allowing three women to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that were not part of the criminal charges against him.

Prosecutors have said that they will be ready to retry Weinstein by the fall, but no date has been set. If they obtain a new indictment, they could seek to combine it with the original case or try both of them separately.

Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's lawyer, said at last week's hearing that it was unfair for prosecutors to seek to add additional victims to the case after the conviction was overturned.

Weinstein is being held in New York City’s Rikers Island jail ahead of his retrial.

Weinstein was also sentenced to 16 years following a separate rape trial in California. That conviction was not affected by the New York court's decision, and he has not begun serving the California sentence.

Miramax's hit movies included "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." Weinstein's film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.

(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Nick Zieminski)

[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.