Harvey Weinstein due in court for key rulings as his #MeToo retrial
nears
[March 12, 2025]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein 's #MeToo retrial next month will
largely be an abridged version of the original, with one big addition: a
charge based on an allegation from a woman who wasn’t a part of the
first case.
Just how the reprise of the disgraced movie mogul's prosecution plays
out should come into focus on Wednesday, when a judge is set to issue
rulings on a variety of issues, including the scope of accuser testimony
and potential expert witnesses.
Weinstein, 72, is expected to be in court when Judge Curtis Farber
rules.
His retrial is scheduled to start April 15 in state court in Manhattan —
nearly a year after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020
conviction on rape and sexual assault charges.
At his last court appearance, in January, Weinstein implored Farber to
start the retrial sooner. He told the judge “I don’t know how much
longer I can hold on” with cancer, heart issues and harsh conditions at
New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, where he is locked up.
Weinstein is being retried on charges that he forcibly performed oral
sex on a movie and TV production assistant in 2006 and raped an aspiring
actor in 2013. The additional charge, filed last September, alleges he
forced oral sex on a different woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said in court papers
that the woman, who has not been identified publicly, came forward to
prosecutors just days before the start of Weinstein’s first trial but
was not part of that case.
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 Prosecutors said they did not pursue
the women’s allegations after Weinstein was convicted and sentenced
to 23 years in prison, but they revisited them and secured a new
indictment after the state’s Court of Appeals threw out his
conviction last April.
Farber ruled in October to combine the new
indictment and existing charges into one trial.
Weinstein’s lawyers contend that prosecutors prejudiced him by
waiting nearly five years to bring the additional charge, suggesting
they had elected not to include the allegation in his first trial so
they could use it later if his conviction were reversed.
Weinstein has denied that he raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
Last month, Weinstein added Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer who has
represented Bill Cosby and R. Kelly, to a legal team that includes
defense attorneys Arthur Aidala, Diana Fabi Samson and former judge
Barry Kamins.
In vacating Weinstein’s conviction, the Court of Appeals ruled that
the trial judge, James M. Burke, unfairly allowed testimony against
him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the
case. Burke is no longer on the bench and such testimony won't be
part of the retrial.
Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape. His
16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, but his lawyers
appealed in June, arguing he did not get a fair trial.
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