Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court for a status hearing in New York, US, on July 19, 2024. | Photo credit: Reuters
A judge on Friday set a tentative date for Harvey Weinstein’s planned retrial on rape and sexual assault charges to begin on November 12.
Weinstein wore an American flag pin on his jacket during a brief court appearance in Manhattan. The court appearance was delayed for more than 90 minutes because of disruptions to computers around the world, according to Judge Curtis Farber.
In addition to setting a trial date, the hearing also discussed issues related to evidence in the case against the former Hollywood movie mogul, particularly information obtained from the phone, which would be reviewed by a presiding judge to determine whether the material was relevant to the case and should be turned over to defense lawyers.
At a hearing last week, prosecutors said they hoped to hear the case again in November. They told Farber they were still actively working on new claims against Weinstein, though they acknowledged they had not yet presented any findings to the grand jury.
Weinstein has denied that he sexually assaulted anyone.
His lawyers told Farber they would prefer an earlier trial date. “He is eager to go to trial and prove his innocence,” Diana Fabi Samson, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, said outside the courthouse.
Weinstein, 72, is being held at Rikers Island jail. One of his lawyers, Arthur Aidala, has complained that Weinstein is not receiving proper care in jail due to diabetes, macular degeneration and fluid in his lungs and heart.
Aidala was not in court Friday, but another Weinstein lawyer, John Esposito, told reporters that the defense again raised Weinstein’s medical problems during a sidebar conversation with the judge. Esposito said Farber said he would assist as much as possible to ensure that Weinstein received proper care.
Esposito said the priority would be to get Weinstein back to Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, where he could receive proper medical care so he would be in good physical and mental condition to stand trial.
He was flown to New York City earlier this year just hours after the state’s highest court threw out his 2020 conviction, after which he was treated at Bellevue for several days. The appeals court wrote that the original trial judge improperly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case.
He is in prison in part because he was sentenced in California to 16 years in prison after being convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022. In an appeal filed there last month, his lawyers argued he did not receive a fair trial. Esposito said Friday that he does not expect an appeal in the California case to be decided for at least another year.
Weinstein’s sentencing in New York was considered a milestone in the #MeToo movement, an era that began in 2017 with multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against the once powerful studio boss. pulp Fiction And Shakespeare in Love,
In New York, Weinstein was convicted of third-degree rape for attacking an aspiring actress and forcing himself on a TV and film production assistant in 2006. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have said one of the accusers in the case, Jessica Mann, is willing to testify against Weinstein again. Gloria Allred, a lawyer for another accuser, Mimi Haley, said last week that her client had not yet decided whether to attend the retrial.
The Associated Press In general, people who allege sexual assault are not identified unless they agree to reveal their name, as Haley and Mann did.
